Tyler Flowers leadoff single in the top of the 5th chased Phillies starter Vince Velasquez, and the Braves made the Phillies bullpen pay immediately. Ronald Acuna Jr. lined a 2 run homer off Deolis Guerra to put the Braves up 2 – 1, and Adam Duvall hit a bases clearing double off Adam Morgan to make it 5 – 1. Duvall was batting for Nick Markakis, as the mandatory 3rd batter the lefty Morgan was required to face.
Huascar Ynoa went 2 1/3 innings; the first 2 were perfect, but a leadoff hit by Neil Walker and a one out walk led Brian Snitker to call on Tyler Matzek. Matzek’s wild pitch allowed Walker to advance to 3rd, where he scored on a ground out by Andrew McCutcheon. Matzek struck out Bryce Harper to end the threat. The bullpen went 4 2/3 innings, allowing 2 hits and 1 run; Mark Melancon got the save.
The Braves win their 1st ever 7 inning doubleheader game. Sing “Take Me Out to the Ballgame,” stretch for 40 minutes, then join us for game 2.
That was fast, thank you Rusty. Great win. Ynoa did well. Good to see Acuna hit one out despite all the money he is making.
Lol.
Thanks, Rusty.
Great job, Rusty. I love the song, but I’m starting to get hoarse.
We knew coming into the season that the bullpen should be a strength—and has it ever—but who predicted that the two best would be Tomlin and Matzek? What is it now—16 combined innings with no earned. runs.
Without Albies, this is the best lineup the Braves can build. Riley HAS to have a good game.
Crapbaskets.
fans self *
Pitch a little, Max Fried.
Austin Riley is unfortunately giving me the 2nd coming of Jeff Francoeur vibes.
@8 The parallels are eerie.
Fried may be turning into a 2nd Ace this season. He certainly seems to be building on a very good 2019. Wouldn’t it be something if Soroka can come back to his old self sometime next year and we have both of them to throw at someone in a playoff series. Then if we can get any of the other young guys to take the step forward that Fried did last year, there’s certainly the potential there, we could really have something.
FREEBOMB!
FRED!
Chip’s calling his usual stellar game. I miss the old righthander.
Nota bene: Freddie’s HR was to the opposite field.
To be fair to Chip (since when?) it must be difficult to broadcast a game from monitors in another city. That said, Chip’s anticipations which function poorly live are particularly embarrassing when he can’t even see the action.
Okay, conscience. I’ll try to cut Skip’s chip a little slack. May I please still be able to tell him to shut up?
It’s great to see the rich snob Acuna doing so well and to see over the hill Freddie get into the action.
From up the thread… Riley will likely never be as good as Francoeur’s worst year in Atlanta.
So, Chief, do you think Riley’s guessing at the plate?
That was beautiful.
@17
Bravesjournal will remember that….
I just don’t think he has the bat speed to hit anything other than BP level ML pitching.
I mean he’s 6-4 and 235 so occasionally he’s going to hammer one but it’s similar to a blind squirrel finding a nut.
I don’t think the Braves believe in him either. Just a hunch.
Francoeur’s 2008 and first half of 2009 were damn horrific. Remember how hated he was here on this blog? He was the constant butt of Mac’s jokes.
RONALD!!!!
@td
I just finished reading that when Ronnie Rich went boneyard.
Acuna is our new Maddux. He’s the guy I’m going to get to tell my grandkids I got to watch.
Acuña and Freeman’s numbers are getting well.
Acuna and Freeman are not immune to slumps, but they are immune to my being worried about them. They will always wind up being fine.
TRAVIS!!!
Travis d’Arnaud is 100% not bad.
@17, if you go by bWAR, Riley was better last year than Francouer was in Atlanta in 2008 or 2009. Not looking good at the plate so far this year, though.
Is Fried the best “pure stuff” starting pitcher we’ve had since Smoltz?
Austin had a hot streak. He cooled off.
@21 Is it bat speed or reaction time that Riley is deficient in? I have yet to watch a game, but I’m told by a few that Riley’s pitch recognition has improved as evidenced by his increased BB%. So, he’s not hacking at pitches clearly off the plate anymore, but now he is susceptible to heat down the middle of the plate, is that right?
He had no problem handling heat early last season. If he learns to recognize pitches a bit sooner, he should be able to handle the heat down the middle again.
PS. I’ve also heard that the organization doesn’t view him in the same light as Acuna/Ozzie/Pache, but what does being one tier down from those guys equal?
I think “one tier down from Acuna/Ozzie/Pache” would be “regular, not star.” Acuna’s a potential MVP, Ozzie’s an All-Star, and Pache’s a guy who could be an All-Star.
Oh no.
C’mon, Max, you’re playing with fire
edit: whew, nice.
I thought he could get a 7 inning CG, but that will probably be his last inning.
Be the man, Max.
You are THE man, Max.
Good game Max.
Max has nerves of steel
Wow. Well… Max got away with it. He lost it in a hurry in the 5th.
And Austin gets off the schneid! It’ll look like a line drive in the box score, kid.
Acuña is officially on fire.
Ronald.
My God.
Clearly heard me.
$$$
HE DID IT AGAIN!
Once again, my hubby inspires the bats.
I’m waiting for Chief to back off on his “Acuna and the money” comment. Seems like that got answered awfully quickly.
OK, @44 came up at the same time I posted
Somewhere, Skip Caray is bending the elbow and thinking to himself, “Boy, this is fun!”
Marcell is fighting it. Maybe not.
Greaaaaat swing by Ozuna!
This offense is fun when it’s going well; it also makes the other teams pitching changes look bad.
We all owe Chief. Clearly he’s responsible for RAJ and Freddie going 11/16 on the day, with four homers, two doubles and a triple.
Keep talking smack about Riley, Chief. That may be the ticket.
Digger!
Damn Austin, it really looks like he’s guessing up there.
Some guys like Javy Lopez were guessers and ended up playing well, but still…
If Braves players have a good game every time Chief speaks poorly of them, we we’ll win the world series for the next 5 years in a row.
That was fun. Nola tomorrow. Enjoy the evening.
@34 And that is not at all a bad assessment of Austin Riley’s expected outcome. There is plenty of value if he becomes an average third baseman.
Also, Albies and Acuna are both top 5 at their positions. Acuna was only 0.5 bWAR better last season. I believe Ozzie is elite by just about any measure. While I don’t expect him to bring home MVP awards, I wouldn’t rule it out. He has so much heart.
@54 Javy was a really good hitter, though. He wasn’t guessing at the plate. He hit for high average even while fouling off garbage pitches to get to something he liked. Javy Lopez was a really amazing hitter. I say that in full recognition that he was a PED user, afaik, but he was also a very polished hitter for much of his career.
Recapped.