The Braves actually outslugged their issues, but it didn’t help them in the standings with only seven games to go
This week, the Braves have lost two games they probably couldn’t afford to lose to subpar opponents. In both of those losses, there were tactical mistakes and on-field mistakes, and postgame commentary from the team itself lamented that overcoming such lapses was nearly effortless last year, it’s been a slog, and much harder to achieve, in 2024. Well, in this game, the Braves again made similar lapses, but for once, they did in fact outslug them. Two two-run homers in the seventh delivered unto Atlanta an easy 6-2 win, though it wasn’t easy until that point. More importantly, though, the Mets also won on Saturday afternoon, so all the Braves did was keep pace — they’ll hope to at least force only a one-game deficit on Sunday (provided the Phillies actually help out) before the Mets come to town next week.
Like last night, this game started out inauspiciously, although it really wasn’t that bad. Max Fried’s first batter faced resulted in a barrel, but fortunately Michael Harris II flagged it down, helping the Braves to benefit from their big bugbear this year. However, a two-out single and a soft bouncer down the right-field line that Jorge Soler bungled gave the Marlins a run. On the flip side, though, Jorge Soler immediately deposited an Adam Oller pitch into left field for a solo homer to tie the game up. Soler taketh and Soler giveth, and the Braves need to figureth out what they’re gonna do with him next year, because he has -7 Statcast fielding runs as a right fielder in about a fourth of a season.
After that, Fried got on a roll — four straight groundouts, then three straight strikeouts, until a lineout and a soft bouncer single snapped those streaks. At the same time, the Braves were mostly ineffective against Oller. They loaded the bases in the third with two singles and a walk, but Soler popped out and Ramon Laureano flew out. They did scratch across a run facing Oller for a third time in the fifth, as Ozzie Albies hit a high chopper off the plate for his first righty-on-righty hit of the current experiment, Marcell Ozuna walked, and Matt Olson lined a single to center. Soler and Laureano both struck out, though, to end that rally.
When Fried’s streak of Marlins retired was broken up by the dribbler in the bottom of the fifth, he then gave up another bloop, putting the tying and go-ahead runs on base. But, he struck out Nick Fortes, and being indubitably asked to continue working despite the third time through the order coming up, fortunately also struck out Connor Norby (on three straight curveballs, at that) to end the threat.
The Braves chased Oller in the sixth after he finished his third trip through the order, and Harris singled off Anthony Veneziano to put two on with two outs. Albies got a chance to face a southpaw for the first time since his return and hit it really hard (103 mph), but right at an infielder.
And then, the stuff-wot-needs-to-be-outslugged happened. After a strikeout to start the frame, Fried let a full count pitch get away from him for his first walk of the game. Derek Hill, who had the “triple” in the first, then hit another ball in Olson’s general vicinity, this time at a pathetic 69 mph off the bat, but this one also got through. Did the Braves pull Fried? No, they did not. In Fried’s defense, he got another soft roller from the next batter. In the Braves’ lack of defense, Albies threw away the relay throw to first, tying the game. The next batter flew out, and Fried departed with a great outing (6/1 K/BB ratio) that was nonetheless marred by bad stuff happening when the opposing team made contact, however ineffectual, with the ball.
Anyway, the Braves didn’t actually let their lapses turn what should’ve been an easy win into a loss, not this time. Facing Lake Bachar in the seventh, they went single-Matt Olson homer to make it a 4-2 game, and then after an out, double-Gio Urshela homer to cap the scoring at 6-2. After that, the bullpen did what it pretty much always does: Pierce Johnson rebounded with two strikeouts in a perfect frame, Joe Jimenez had two strikeouts in his frame, and Raisel Iglesias got three groundouts to work around a two-out walk.
But, again, all this does is just keep the status quo in terms of the Braves and the Mets, and the calendar is getting shorter and shorter. The Braves will try to again outslug whatever mistakes they make tomorrow, and will desperately cross their fingers that the Phillies can not mail it in for one more game as well.
As a minor note, Travis d’Arnaud went 0-for-5 with four strikeouts in this one, and Orlando Arcia went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts. Sorry, Travis, that’s a rough one.