Braves Obliterate Reds Pitching to Win Series
Braves Obliterate Reds Pitching to Win Series
The Atlanta Braves had their biggest scoring output of the season on Thursday afternoon in support of Chris Sale
The Atlanta Braves absolutely demolished the Cincinnati Reds, 15-3, in Great American Ball Park on Thursday afternoon to win the series.
Here’s what you need to know about from the contest.
Sale made history today
The probable NL Cy young winner, Chris Sale, came into this game on an amazing run of dominance: seventeen consecutive starts of two or fewer earned runs, tied with two others1 for the longest streak in baseball history.
It’s now his sole record.
Sale went five innings, allowing only the two runs on five hits with two walks and six strikeouts. He threw 93 pitches (57 for strikes) and picked up 18 whiffs, with most of them coming on the slider (11) and changeup (5).
That changeup effectiveness, I think, explains a trend that several noticed as the outing progressed - Sale’s velo was down, with his fastball coming in about 2.2 mph under his season average and even dipping below 90 mph at times.
But I’m not worried - Sale was a bit wild with the heater today, with several of his fastballs coming in well above the zone. It’s entirely likely that he deliberately dialed back the heater because he was a bit wild with it, using the changeup to get outs ahead.
This is a similar approach to what he did versus both Colorado and Toronto earlier this month, with his velocity returning to normal when he took on the Dodgers last weekend. I don’t think it’s anything to be concerned about, but we’ll update if it is.
UPDATE: Sale said after the game, as relayed by Justin Toscano of the AJC, that his fastball felt “weird” today and the game was a bit of a grind.
Additionally, I went back and looked at Sale’s five highest and lowest average fastball velocities for the season and noticed a trend:
Highest: 96.4 (6/21 @ NYY), 95.9 (9/14 vs LAD), 95.7 (7/31 @ MIL & 7/9 @ ARI), 95.6 (8/28 @ MIN)
Lowest: 92.8 (Today @ CIN), 93.0 (9/3 vs COL), 93.6 (9/8 vs TOR), 93.8 (5/14 vs CHC), 93.9 (6/27 @ CHW)
Everybody in the “highest” is a postseason contender, while everyone in the “lowest” group is not. I’m guessing Chris Sale will be fine for next week’s start against the Mets.
The best offensive performances of the season
Atlanta scored fifteen runs on eighteen hits this afternoon, including six homers.
It was a pretty momentous output, for a few reasons. Atlanta’s highest point total of the season was 13 runs, last month in San Francisco against the Giants. The team’s single-game high for homers in a game was four, done eleven times, while this is tied for the highest hit total of the year with Atlanta’s 12-4 win over the Phillies in the second game of the season.
Counting the backups who entered late, eleven different Braves batters got a hit, including all nine starters. That’s the first time Atlanta’s gotten that many different players a hit since last August, when eleven Braves took down the New York Mets 21-3 in game one of a doubleheader on August 12th.
If trying to pick an MVP for this game, that’s tough: Michael Harris II went deep twice off of reliever Brandon Leibrandt2 late, finishing 3-5 with 2 RBI and four runs scored. Marcell Ozuna continued his offensive rebound from last night, hitting a RBI double. Ramón Laureano had another big game, going 2-5 with a run and three RBI.
But the award probably needs to go to Matt Olson.
Matt Olson’s never leaving Cincinnati
Know how Chipper Jones was so good hitting in New York’s Shea Stadium that he named one of his kids “Shea”?
Matt Olson might need to think about going with “Gabby” in honor of Great American Ball Park.
Atlanta’s resident “Iron Man”, who tied Reds legend Pete Rose with his 477th consecutive game started at first base today, did so in grand fashion with two homers and four RBI. That’s now seven homers and 15 RBI for Olson in just six games in Cincinnati, dating back to last June.
It continues a much-needed late-season surge for Olson, who is batting .300 with five homers and 27 RBI in the last 30 days. He’s now within striking distance of a 30/100 season, needing two homers and six RBI. His current three-year streak is, somehow, the longest active streak in baseball.
Watching the out-of-town scoreboard
Playing a getaway day game, the Braves have already handled their business. Entering today’s action just two games back of both the Arizona Diamondbacks and New York Mets, the Braves will temporarily move up to 1.5 games out and possibly closer, pending the results tonight. The Mets are starting a four-game series in Philadelphia against the Phillies, with Taijuan Walker facing off against Luis Severino, while the Arizona Diamondbacks are in Milwaukee to take on the Brewers. Having clinched a playoff berth yesterday, the hope here is that Milwaukee doesn’t throw out a “hangover” lineup behind starter Tobias Myers, while Arizona’s trying to rally with Brandon Pfaadt on the bump.
What’s next for the Atlanta Braves?
The boys are off to Miami to join rehabbing Ozzie Albies, who left the Gwinnett Stripers road trip in Jacksonville this morning and traveled down to meet the team for their upcoming weekend series against the Marlins. (More on Ozzie and the righty-on-right experiment tomorrow morning).
Starters for Atlanta have been announced, with Charlie Morton getting the ball on Friday (7:10 PM), Max Fried on Saturday (4:10 PM), and Grant Holmes making another spot start on Sunday (1:40 PM).
Walter Johnson (1919) and “King” Felix Hernandez (2014)
Yes, Brandon Leibrandt is the son of Charlie Leibrandt. The Reds broadcast actually had a really nice graphic about all of the father/son duos to take the field for Cincinnati:
And for even more entertainment for the dads, Cavan Biggio checked in for Atlanta late and got some revenge for his dad. Craig Biggio was only 5-29 (all singles) with a walk off of Charlie Leibrandt, but Cavan singled and came around to score in his first career at-bat off of Brandon.