<img alt="St. Louis Cardinals v Atlanta Braves - Game Two" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/iSj98e7a9GDa6V1HXPmr48SODjA=/0x0:6607x4405/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73472731/2162226853.0.jpg">
A lot of things happened in an eventful game, but big BABIP innings did the Braves in So many things happened in the Braves’ 9-5 nightcap loss to the Cardinals on Saturday that it feels like the game wasn’t nine innings played over two-and-a-half hours, but maybe an entire geochronologic era. In the end, though, the Braves proved unable to overcome a .500 BABIP by the Cardinals despite four homers of their own and a bunch of barreled outs by their opponents, settling for a split of the doubleheader.
The game got out of hand pretty early. Masyn Winn started the game with a triple and scored on a sacrifice fly, The Braves tied it up with a leadoff triple by Jarred Kelenic that came as a result of a terrible route and nowhere-near dive by Lars Nootbaar in right field, and an Ozzie Albies single through second baseman Nolan Gorman. It looked like they might get even more against Cardinals starter Sonny Gray when Austin Riley nearly hit a homer down the right-field line, but after review, the blast was ruled foul, and Riley later struck out.
The tie didn’t last long, as Gorman hit a one-out, one-on homer off a hanging Bryce Elder slider into right-center. That one had no chance of being ruled foul, and the Braves were down 3-1 instead of up 3-1. But then, things got even worse, as a walk, a steal, a slow roller single, a seeing-eye roller single, and then a more traditional hard-hit grounder single made it a 5-1 game before Elder could escape.
From that point on, it felt like it was going to be all Cardinals for a while. For the next eight batters, the Braves got just a single off Gray, and that single was immediately erased on a double play ball. Meanwhile, Elder kind of went ham peripherals-wise with the game in blowout mode, striking out five straight batters at one point. Things looked marginally brighter when Marcell Ozuna took Gray deep in the fourth, but after his fourth and fifth consecutive strikeout, Elder gave up a homer to Brendan Donovan to keep it a four-run affair.
Elder ended up having a really weird outing, with a 10.80 ERA, 5.37 FIP because of the two homers, but a 1.65 xFIP because of the 9/1 K/BB ratio. It probably felt worse than it was because of the timing of the runs allowed and the fact that his carving up of Cardinals hitters came in what was effectively garbage time, but it’s something to build on... ish.
In any case, the game’s tenor changed dramatically in the bottom of the sixth, as Sonny Gray was pushed to face the Braves a third time with his big lead. That ended up almost evaporating the lead, as Riley, Ozuna, and even Eddie Rosario all had mammoth, no-doubter blasts off Gray to make it a 6-5 game...
..and then, things got kind of silly. To this point, the Cardinals did have the three runs on two barreled homers, but the difference in the game was their devil magic-aided ball-in-play stuff. After Aaron Bummer pitched a scoreless sixth (before the Braves’ homer barrage off Gray) and allowed a single to start the seventh, Grant Holmes came on for his mandatory three innings in a game the Braves had decided to use to essentially rest the remainder of their pitching staff, got a pop-out, and then survived by the dint of two barreled outs from Cardinals batters.
Though the Braves appeared to have Gray on the metaphorical ropes in the sixth, he had a breezy seventh with just nine pitches. Instead, the Braves got closer to tying the game in the eighth against Kyle Leahy, as Riley connected for yet another barrel, this time a double off the wall. That meant Matt Olson and Ozuna had a chance to tie the game or more, but neither succeeded, and the Braves at least had the chance of carrying a one-run game into the final frame...
...until things went sideways for Holmes in the top of the ninth.
First, Orlando Arcia couldn’t convert a weakly hit flare into an out. Then, an overthrow on a steal attempt put the runner on third, and a one-out single past a draw-in infield made it 7-5. But, that didn’t really matter too much, because a bloop single, yet another Cardinals barreled out, and a seeing-eye single made it a 9-5 game. The Braves went down quietly in the ninth against Leahy, with the potential to have an exciting bottom of the ninth stymied.
On the plus side, four homers is fun, and the offense continues to come around, albeit in fits and starts. On the minus side, getting murdered by a .500 BABIP is not all that fun, but considering the Braves benefited from three barreled outs in this game while hitting none themselves, you can’t really say they lost this game squarely because of the devil magic. I imagine the final xwOBA tallies will have the two teams in pretty similar territory, which doesn’t make a four-run difference feel good, but it is what it is.
The Braves will go for the series win behind Spencer Schwellenbach tomorrow afternoon; the rookie has gotten BABIPed a fair bit here and there, but maybe the Cardinals are out of mana and can’t cast their devil magic again. We’ll see.
<img alt="St. Louis Cardinals v Atlanta Braves - Game Two" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/iSj98e7a9GDa6V1HXPmr48SODjA=/0x0:6607x4405/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73472731/2162226853.0.jpg">
A lot of things happened in an eventful game, but big BABIP innings did the Braves in So many things happened in the Braves’ 9-5 nightcap loss to the Cardinals on Saturday that it feels like the game wasn’t nine innings played over two-and-a-half hours, but maybe an entire geochronologic era. In the end, though, the Braves proved unable to overcome a .500 BABIP by the Cardinals despite four homers of their own and a bunch of barreled outs by their opponents, settling for a split of the doubleheader.
The game got out of hand pretty early. Masyn Winn started the game with a triple and scored on a sacrifice fly, The Braves tied it up with a leadoff triple by Jarred Kelenic that came as a result of a terrible route and nowhere-near dive by Lars Nootbaar in right field, and an Ozzie Albies single through second baseman Nolan Gorman. It looked like they might get even more against Cardinals starter Sonny Gray when Austin Riley nearly hit a homer down the right-field line, but after review, the blast was ruled foul, and Riley later struck out.
The tie didn’t last long, as Gorman hit a one-out, one-on homer off a hanging Bryce Elder slider into right-center. That one had no chance of being ruled foul, and the Braves were down 3-1 instead of up 3-1. But then, things got even worse, as a walk, a steal, a slow roller single, a seeing-eye roller single, and then a more traditional hard-hit grounder single made it a 5-1 game before Elder could escape.
From that point on, it felt like it was going to be all Cardinals for a while. For the next eight batters, the Braves got just a single off Gray, and that single was immediately erased on a double play ball. Meanwhile, Elder kind of went ham peripherals-wise with the game in blowout mode, striking out five straight batters at one point. Things looked marginally brighter when Marcell Ozuna took Gray deep in the fourth, but after his fourth and fifth consecutive strikeout, Elder gave up a homer to Brendan Donovan to keep it a four-run affair.
Elder ended up having a really weird outing, with a 10.80 ERA, 5.37 FIP because of the two homers, but a 1.65 xFIP because of the 9/1 K/BB ratio. It probably felt worse than it was because of the timing of the runs allowed and the fact that his carving up of Cardinals hitters came in what was effectively garbage time, but it’s something to build on... ish.
In any case, the game’s tenor changed dramatically in the bottom of the sixth, as Sonny Gray was pushed to face the Braves a third time with his big lead. That ended up almost evaporating the lead, as Riley, Ozuna, and even Eddie Rosario all had mammoth, no-doubter blasts off Gray to make it a 6-5 game...
..and then, things got kind of silly. To this point, the Cardinals did have the three runs on two barreled homers, but the difference in the game was their devil magic-aided ball-in-play stuff. After Aaron Bummer pitched a scoreless sixth (before the Braves’ homer barrage off Gray) and allowed a single to start the seventh, Grant Holmes came on for his mandatory three innings in a game the Braves had decided to use to essentially rest the remainder of their pitching staff, got a pop-out, and then survived by the dint of two barreled outs from Cardinals batters.
Though the Braves appeared to have Gray on the metaphorical ropes in the sixth, he had a breezy seventh with just nine pitches. Instead, the Braves got closer to tying the game in the eighth against Kyle Leahy, as Riley connected for yet another barrel, this time a double off the wall. That meant Matt Olson and Ozuna had a chance to tie the game or more, but neither succeeded, and the Braves at least had the chance of carrying a one-run game into the final frame...
...until things went sideways for Holmes in the top of the ninth.
First, Orlando Arcia couldn’t convert a weakly hit flare into an out. Then, an overthrow on a steal attempt put the runner on third, and a one-out single past a draw-in infield made it 7-5. But, that didn’t really matter too much, because a bloop single, yet another Cardinals barreled out, and a seeing-eye single made it a 9-5 game. The Braves went down quietly in the ninth against Leahy, with the potential to have an exciting bottom of the ninth stymied.
On the plus side, four homers is fun, and the offense continues to come around, albeit in fits and starts. On the minus side, getting murdered by a .500 BABIP is not all that fun, but considering the Braves benefited from three barreled outs in this game while hitting none themselves, you can’t really say they lost this game squarely because of the devil magic. I imagine the final xwOBA tallies will have the two teams in pretty similar territory, which doesn’t make a four-run difference feel good, but it is what it is.
The Braves will go for the series win behind Spencer Schwellenbach tomorrow afternoon; the rookie has gotten BABIPed a fair bit here and there, but maybe the Cardinals are out of mana and can’t cast their devil magic again. We’ll see.
Link to original article
