<img alt="Atlanta Braves v Milwaukee Brewers" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/Ak8RG_-nXR6Xr4a_Jm1nyU9-aUI=/0x0:3000x2000/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73492330/2164527753.0.jpg">
Photo by John Fisher/Getty Images
Bryce Elder cruised and the Braves unloaded a 17-baserunner broadside in an easy win. Things haven’t been easy for the Braves this season. Things haven’t been easy for Bryce Elder even longer than that. But, tonight proved to be a night of respite for both, as Elder cruised through the Milwaukee lineup, while the Braves rode some ball-in-play luck to a big inning and never looked back in a 5-1 win.
Like many games this season, this one had no offense early. Milwaukee starter Joe Ross, making his first start since May after returning from a back issue, threw zero balls in the first and just one in the second; the Braves got only an Austin Riley single in those two frames. The Braves seemed to catch on from there, though. After a one-out Nacho Alvarez Jr. single through the right side in the third, Jarred Kelenic came up and rolled a 50-50 grounder of his own for a double down the left-field line. It was an interesting sequence, both because Kelenic turned on a changeup he had taken for a strike in the exact same place earlier in the plate appearance, and also because the ball took a hard ricochet off the padding in foul territory and rolled for what felt like eons into right field, yet Alvarez only ended up on third in the process. No matter, though. Riley hit another 50-50 grounder single to right to score Alvarez, and Ozuna did pretty much the same thing to score Kelenic. After a Matt Olson walk and Sean Murphy strikeout, Eddie Rosario went above and beyond the 50-50 grounders the Braves had been hitting and lined one into right-center for a two-run single.
It’s tempting to say the Braves just got some great fortune in terms of both ball-in-play results and sequencing here, but it’s also worth noting that Ross was clearly just pounding the zone, and they handily adjusted, as all of the hits in the sequence were basically meaty pitches.
Bryce Elder was already cruising by this point, but the four-spot probably helped him cruise more. Elder had two strikeouts in the first and another in the second; he didn’t allow a hit until a one-out barreled double in the third, but stranded the runner there with a strikeout and a groundout.
Kelenic padded the lead a bit with an opposite-field line drive homer in the fourth. It was somewhat of a nice reward for him given that a lot of his struggles all season have been about trying to drive the outside fastball to left and having pretty much no success with it, but that’s what he was able to do with Ross’ 94 mph four-seam offering on the outside edge. It was the first homer he’s hit to left (or anywhere that isn’t right or right-center) this year, and only his sixth extra-base hit of the season to the left of second base.
Elder stranded another double in the fourth, and escaped a two-on, two-out situation in the fifth (both hits were weakly hit) with a groundout. After a 1-2-3 sixth, he was finally chased in the seventh, being allowed to pitch after a leadoff walk and an infield single, and collecting a strikeout of Rhys Hoskins on the way out. He finished with a 7/1 K/BB ratio, his second consecutive very strong effort in that regard. Unlike last time out, though, where he allowed a bunch of homers and was charged with a bevy of runs, this start could go down as one of his best of the season in terms of results.
With Elder gone, the Braves asked A.J. Minter to hold the five-run lead. Pinch-hitter Gary Sanchez ate into it with a seeing-eye soft single through the left side, but a soft lineout and a groundout ended the frame. Joe Jimenez sandwiched two strikeouts around a two-out walk in the eighth, and Raisel Iglesias ended the game with a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it, nine-pitch ninth.
Though the Braves didn’t score after Kelenic’s homer, they clogged the bases to an extreme degree anyway. Ross departed after five, and old friend Bryse Wilson came on. Orlando Arcia tagged Wilson for a leadoff double, and Kelenic later walked. Riley then hit a two-out single into left field that somehow loaded the bases rather than resulting in Arcia scoring, and Marcell Ozuna struck out swinging to end that inning. Two more singles against Wilson in the seventh also amounted to nothing. Kelenic walked again, this time against southpaw Tyler Jay, in the eighth, and Riley followed with his fourth single of the day, but they too were stranded. A leadoff single similarly went nowhere (in fact was erased on a double play) in the ninth.
All in all, though, it was a nice boost to the hitting stats for the offense on the eve of Jorge Soler returning to the lineup. Kelenic had one of his better games as a Brave in his home state, going 2-for-3 with a double, a homer, and two walks, without any issues in the outfield. Riley had his first four-hit game since June of last year, and though all were singles, two of the four were scalded and another was still hit hard. Matt Olson was the only guy in the starting lineup to go hitless, but he walked twice. Orlando Arcia and Sean Murphy had two hits apiece as they continue to raise their batting lines from nadir-esque territory.
Unfortunately, the situation in the standings hasn’t improved all too much with the win. The Padres currently trail the Dodgers by two runs, but the other teams relevant to the NL Wild Card picture either all won, or are winning by a huge margin right now. Picking up a game on the Padres isn’t terrible, but it could’ve been better.
The Braves will get a chance to go for the series victory tomorrow behind Chris Sale, but they’ll have to come out on top of a pitcher’s duel where Sale faces Freddy Peralta in order to do so. Maybe the worm will keep turning, through, and they’ll get another BABIP-y big inning to cruise from.
<img alt="Atlanta Braves v Milwaukee Brewers" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/Ak8RG_-nXR6Xr4a_Jm1nyU9-aUI=/0x0:3000x2000/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73492330/2164527753.0.jpg">
Photo by John Fisher/Getty Images
Bryce Elder cruised and the Braves unloaded a 17-baserunner broadside in an easy win. Things haven’t been easy for the Braves this season. Things haven’t been easy for Bryce Elder even longer than that. But, tonight proved to be a night of respite for both, as Elder cruised through the Milwaukee lineup, while the Braves rode some ball-in-play luck to a big inning and never looked back in a 5-1 win.
Like many games this season, this one had no offense early. Milwaukee starter Joe Ross, making his first start since May after returning from a back issue, threw zero balls in the first and just one in the second; the Braves got only an Austin Riley single in those two frames. The Braves seemed to catch on from there, though. After a one-out Nacho Alvarez Jr. single through the right side in the third, Jarred Kelenic came up and rolled a 50-50 grounder of his own for a double down the left-field line. It was an interesting sequence, both because Kelenic turned on a changeup he had taken for a strike in the exact same place earlier in the plate appearance, and also because the ball took a hard ricochet off the padding in foul territory and rolled for what felt like eons into right field, yet Alvarez only ended up on third in the process. No matter, though. Riley hit another 50-50 grounder single to right to score Alvarez, and Ozuna did pretty much the same thing to score Kelenic. After a Matt Olson walk and Sean Murphy strikeout, Eddie Rosario went above and beyond the 50-50 grounders the Braves had been hitting and lined one into right-center for a two-run single.
It’s tempting to say the Braves just got some great fortune in terms of both ball-in-play results and sequencing here, but it’s also worth noting that Ross was clearly just pounding the zone, and they handily adjusted, as all of the hits in the sequence were basically meaty pitches.
Bryce Elder was already cruising by this point, but the four-spot probably helped him cruise more. Elder had two strikeouts in the first and another in the second; he didn’t allow a hit until a one-out barreled double in the third, but stranded the runner there with a strikeout and a groundout.
Kelenic padded the lead a bit with an opposite-field line drive homer in the fourth. It was somewhat of a nice reward for him given that a lot of his struggles all season have been about trying to drive the outside fastball to left and having pretty much no success with it, but that’s what he was able to do with Ross’ 94 mph four-seam offering on the outside edge. It was the first homer he’s hit to left (or anywhere that isn’t right or right-center) this year, and only his sixth extra-base hit of the season to the left of second base.
Elder stranded another double in the fourth, and escaped a two-on, two-out situation in the fifth (both hits were weakly hit) with a groundout. After a 1-2-3 sixth, he was finally chased in the seventh, being allowed to pitch after a leadoff walk and an infield single, and collecting a strikeout of Rhys Hoskins on the way out. He finished with a 7/1 K/BB ratio, his second consecutive very strong effort in that regard. Unlike last time out, though, where he allowed a bunch of homers and was charged with a bevy of runs, this start could go down as one of his best of the season in terms of results.
With Elder gone, the Braves asked A.J. Minter to hold the five-run lead. Pinch-hitter Gary Sanchez ate into it with a seeing-eye soft single through the left side, but a soft lineout and a groundout ended the frame. Joe Jimenez sandwiched two strikeouts around a two-out walk in the eighth, and Raisel Iglesias ended the game with a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it, nine-pitch ninth.
Though the Braves didn’t score after Kelenic’s homer, they clogged the bases to an extreme degree anyway. Ross departed after five, and old friend Bryse Wilson came on. Orlando Arcia tagged Wilson for a leadoff double, and Kelenic later walked. Riley then hit a two-out single into left field that somehow loaded the bases rather than resulting in Arcia scoring, and Marcell Ozuna struck out swinging to end that inning. Two more singles against Wilson in the seventh also amounted to nothing. Kelenic walked again, this time against southpaw Tyler Jay, in the eighth, and Riley followed with his fourth single of the day, but they too were stranded. A leadoff single similarly went nowhere (in fact was erased on a double play) in the ninth.
All in all, though, it was a nice boost to the hitting stats for the offense on the eve of Jorge Soler returning to the lineup. Kelenic had one of his better games as a Brave in his home state, going 2-for-3 with a double, a homer, and two walks, without any issues in the outfield. Riley had his first four-hit game since June of last year, and though all were singles, two of the four were scalded and another was still hit hard. Matt Olson was the only guy in the starting lineup to go hitless, but he walked twice. Orlando Arcia and Sean Murphy had two hits apiece as they continue to raise their batting lines from nadir-esque territory.
Unfortunately, the situation in the standings hasn’t improved all too much with the win. The Padres currently trail the Dodgers by two runs, but the other teams relevant to the NL Wild Card picture either all won, or are winning by a huge margin right now. Picking up a game on the Padres isn’t terrible, but it could’ve been better.
The Braves will get a chance to go for the series victory tomorrow behind Chris Sale, but they’ll have to come out on top of a pitcher’s duel where Sale faces Freddy Peralta in order to do so. Maybe the worm will keep turning, through, and they’ll get another BABIP-y big inning to cruise from.
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