<img alt="MLB: Atlanta Braves at Boston Red Sox" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/c3kEgb0lNcWMLUKoKeFRvgIbTlc=/0x0:4508x3005/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73391109/usa_today_23476278.0.jpg">
Paul Rutherford-USA TODAY Sports
The Braves looked like they turned the corner offensively in Game 1 but then smashed right into an ineffectiveness wall in Game 2 The Atlanta Braves began a long road trip by splitting a two-game series with the Boston Red Sox. The series brought Atlanta’s inconsistent offensive season into stark relief. One night after scoring eight runs, in a win, the Braves managed just one hit in Wednesday’s loss. It was the first time Atlanta has been shutout since last May in Toronto. While this season has been especially bad as far as the disparity between winners and losers (something we also saw in 2022, when the ball was similarly deadened relative to 2021 and 2023), you might be surprised to learn that in this regard, the Braves aren’t special. In general, this season, teams that win have batting lines about a third better than league average, and teams that lose have batting lines about a third worse than league average — this is actually a relatively consistent baseball truism. The Braves, in their losses, have hit about five percent better than an average losing team in 2024; in their wins, they’ve hit only about one percent better than an average winning team. If you think the offense has been inconsistent in general this year, imagine how other teams feel.
The Braves also dealt with some injury issues in this two-game set, as they have all season. Sean Murphy exited after being hit by a pitch on Tuesday and had some nasty swelling, but seems like he’ll be ready to return to action soon. Jarred Kelenic had an ugly-looking thing happen to his hand and wrist on a diving catch, so who knows what effects that’ll have going forward.
Maximum Max Fried
Max Fried began the series in dominant fashion, allowing two earned runs while collecting a career-high 13 strikeouts in seven innings. It was the fifth time in his last six starts that Fried had logged at least seven innings.
Per Baseball-Reference, Fried is the first Braves pitcher since 2015 to have a seven-game span with 50+ innings pitched, 40+ strikeouts while allowing fewer than 10 earned runs. Shelby Miller did it in 2015 and Julio Teheran did it twice in 2014.
Since allowing 10 runs combined in his first two starts, Fried has allowed just 14 earned runs since in 68 2/3 innings. He has a 1.83 ERA and a 3.03 FIP over that span. Though his early work put him in a bit of a hole, he’s climbing towards the top ten hurlers in MLB, giving Atlanta a starting trio including him, Chris Sale, and Reynaldo Lopez that has been wildly successful so far this season.
Spencer Schwellenbach’s surname is long, but that’s not a reason to let him pitch so deep into games
The Braves elected to keep Spencer Schwellenbach in the rotation for another turn but he was knocked around in Wednesday’s outing. The Red Sox tagged him for seven hits and six runs in 4 2/3 innings. Three of those runs came in the second inning. He allowed a homer to Rafael Devers on a not-so-bad pitch that Devers went down and got and lofted over the Green Monster in left. Things unraveled though in the fifth as three more runs scored — just like in his first start, the third time through the order proved to be too tough a test for the young right-hander.
Schwellenbach showed flashes and had pretty good command of the strike zone. He just struggled to put hitters away. It is unknown whether he will stick for another turn or if the Braves will look elsewhere. He’s shown enough in two starts to be a perfectly fine backend option if the Braves were willing to cut his outings short to limit his exposure, but they’ve shown absolutely no inclination to do so in two starts thus far, making his line look way worse than it could have looked through two starts.
Doubles power
The Braves entered play Wednesday leading the majors in doubles with 119. Ozzie Albies leads the club with 15 doubles while Matt Olson and Orlando Arcia both have 14 each. The modern era single season franchise record is 328 doubles, set by the 2007 club. While this might seem “good,” it’s arguably actually kind of bad, because the Braves really need some of those doubles to be homers. It’s not a surprise that they cruised to a win on Tuesday thanks to a timely three-run homer from Ozzie Albies (and another one added by Orlando Arcia later), and were plunged into a hole by the Red Sox homering early on Wednesday.
Marcell Ozuna’s on-base streak ends
Marcell Ozuna went 0-for-3 on Wednesday and saw his 27-game streak of reaching base come to an end. It was the third longest active streak in the majors and was the second longest of Ozuna’s career. He had a 36-game streak back in 2016 while he was a member of the Marlins. It was the longest single-season streak by a Braves player since Freddie Freeman reached in 33 straight games in 2020. Ozuna actually had a decent chance to extend it when he smashed a liner late in the game off Nick Pivetta, but it was hit right to center for an out.
<img alt="MLB: Atlanta Braves at Boston Red Sox" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/c3kEgb0lNcWMLUKoKeFRvgIbTlc=/0x0:4508x3005/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73391109/usa_today_23476278.0.jpg">
Paul Rutherford-USA TODAY Sports
The Braves looked like they turned the corner offensively in Game 1 but then smashed right into an ineffectiveness wall in Game 2 The Atlanta Braves began a long road trip by splitting a two-game series with the Boston Red Sox. The series brought Atlanta’s inconsistent offensive season into stark relief. One night after scoring eight runs, in a win, the Braves managed just one hit in Wednesday’s loss. It was the first time Atlanta has been shutout since last May in Toronto. While this season has been especially bad as far as the disparity between winners and losers (something we also saw in 2022, when the ball was similarly deadened relative to 2021 and 2023), you might be surprised to learn that in this regard, the Braves aren’t special. In general, this season, teams that win have batting lines about a third better than league average, and teams that lose have batting lines about a third worse than league average — this is actually a relatively consistent baseball truism. The Braves, in their losses, have hit about five percent better than an average losing team in 2024; in their wins, they’ve hit only about one percent better than an average winning team. If you think the offense has been inconsistent in general this year, imagine how other teams feel.
The Braves also dealt with some injury issues in this two-game set, as they have all season. Sean Murphy exited after being hit by a pitch on Tuesday and had some nasty swelling, but seems like he’ll be ready to return to action soon. Jarred Kelenic had an ugly-looking thing happen to his hand and wrist on a diving catch, so who knows what effects that’ll have going forward.
Maximum Max Fried
Max Fried began the series in dominant fashion, allowing two earned runs while collecting a career-high 13 strikeouts in seven innings. It was the fifth time in his last six starts that Fried had logged at least seven innings.
Per Baseball-Reference, Fried is the first Braves pitcher since 2015 to have a seven-game span with 50+ innings pitched, 40+ strikeouts while allowing fewer than 10 earned runs. Shelby Miller did it in 2015 and Julio Teheran did it twice in 2014.
Since allowing 10 runs combined in his first two starts, Fried has allowed just 14 earned runs since in 68 2/3 innings. He has a 1.83 ERA and a 3.03 FIP over that span. Though his early work put him in a bit of a hole, he’s climbing towards the top ten hurlers in MLB, giving Atlanta a starting trio including him, Chris Sale, and Reynaldo Lopez that has been wildly successful so far this season.
Spencer Schwellenbach’s surname is long, but that’s not a reason to let him pitch so deep into games
The Braves elected to keep Spencer Schwellenbach in the rotation for another turn but he was knocked around in Wednesday’s outing. The Red Sox tagged him for seven hits and six runs in 4 2/3 innings. Three of those runs came in the second inning. He allowed a homer to Rafael Devers on a not-so-bad pitch that Devers went down and got and lofted over the Green Monster in left. Things unraveled though in the fifth as three more runs scored — just like in his first start, the third time through the order proved to be too tough a test for the young right-hander.
Schwellenbach showed flashes and had pretty good command of the strike zone. He just struggled to put hitters away. It is unknown whether he will stick for another turn or if the Braves will look elsewhere. He’s shown enough in two starts to be a perfectly fine backend option if the Braves were willing to cut his outings short to limit his exposure, but they’ve shown absolutely no inclination to do so in two starts thus far, making his line look way worse than it could have looked through two starts.
Doubles power
The Braves entered play Wednesday leading the majors in doubles with 119. Ozzie Albies leads the club with 15 doubles while Matt Olson and Orlando Arcia both have 14 each. The modern era single season franchise record is 328 doubles, set by the 2007 club. While this might seem “good,” it’s arguably actually kind of bad, because the Braves really need some of those doubles to be homers. It’s not a surprise that they cruised to a win on Tuesday thanks to a timely three-run homer from Ozzie Albies (and another one added by Orlando Arcia later), and were plunged into a hole by the Red Sox homering early on Wednesday.
Marcell Ozuna’s on-base streak ends
Marcell Ozuna went 0-for-3 on Wednesday and saw his 27-game streak of reaching base come to an end. It was the third longest active streak in the majors and was the second longest of Ozuna’s career. He had a 36-game streak back in 2016 while he was a member of the Marlins. It was the longest single-season streak by a Braves player since Freddie Freeman reached in 33 straight games in 2020. Ozuna actually had a decent chance to extend it when he smashed a liner late in the game off Nick Pivetta, but it was hit right to center for an out.
Link to original article
