Today's Three Things: A fantastic pitcher's duel ends in an Atlanta victory

The Braves take the series opener in Boston thanks to some dominant pitching from Chris Sale, back-to-back homers, and a bevy of Boston walks late

The Atlanta Braves took down the Boston Red Sox 4-2 in Friday night’s series opener in Fenway Park.

Here’s Today’s Three Things from the contest.

The Almost-Turning Point

When you’re facing an elite pitcher like Garrett Crochet, it’s imperative that you take advantage of the few limited opportunities he gives you to score runs.

Short of back-to-back solo homers from Matt Olson and Sean Murphy in the 2nd, the Braves did not do that.

In the 3rd inning, Nick Allen drew a leadoff walk but after Eli White’s bunt attempt was caught for an out, Allen was thrown out trying to steal second and then Austin Riley popped out.

An even more egregious wasted opportunity came in the 7th. After a Marcell Ozuna strikeout to open the frame, Olson, Murphy, and Ozzie Albies strung together three consecutive singles to load the bases with only one out, pitting Crochet on the ropes. But Michael Harris struck out in one of the worst at-bats I’ve seen this year, followed by Stuart Fairchild swinging through an in-zone fastball to end the threat and get Crochet off the hook.

Here’s the Harris strikeout.

The final swing is on a pitch that’s not even fully inside the pitch plot.

Just a terrible at-bat for the centerfielder.

There was a lot of discussion about manager Brian Snitker’s decision to let Fairchild pinch-hit here instead of going to someone else. While it’s true that there was not a righty offensive option on the bench (save for pinch-runner Luke Williams and backup Orlando Arcia), I would have been happy with Drake Baldwin taking the at-bat.

I pulled some stats during the game about how the two players have fared versus lefty pitchers in their major league careers:

Drake Baldwin versus lefties this season: .313/.353/.500
Stuart Fairchild versus lefties in his career: .242/.338/.405
Stuart Fairchild versus lefties this season: 2-for-18

And if you’re worried about Baldwin’s 2025 MLB numbers being a small sample, here’s what he did last season in Double-A and Triple-A: .289/.376/.465 in 133 PAs.

But given the handedness situation, Snit was never going to send a lefty to the plate. And while Fairchild struck out there to end the rally, he did collect one of four Braves walks in a 9th inning that brought in two more runs for Atlanta.

Today’s Player of the Game

Chris Sale

Last year’s reigning NL Cy Young winner was in that same form for his first start back in Boston since being traded to Atlanta in December of 2023. He went seven innings with only one run allowed, coming on a solo shot by Rob Refsnyder in that final frame, while striking out eight and walking just two.

Sale’s slider was the star of the show tonight, as usual, but its usage and locations were different. He did his usual sweeping slider in the zone/just below the zone for whiffs (12 on the slider alone), but he was also manipulating it for a bit more drop and then landing it on the away corner to get strikes on righties. Sale was also feeling the intensity of being back in Boston, averaging nearly two miles per hour more on his fastball than his season average.

Here’s a great video to illustrate both uses of the slider, courtesy of Pitching Ninja:

For the game, he finished with 15 whiffs and a 33% CSW while looking like the best version of himself that we’ve seen since winning last year’s Cy Young award.

What You’ll Be Talking About

More concerns about Raisel Iglesias.

The Braves got Iggy up for the ninth and he did get the save, albeit it with a run coming in after he hit Alex Bregman and then gave up a two-out single to Trevor Story.

My real concern was the way in which he did it: elevating his pitches.

Here’s a pitch plot from the outing:

(Reds are four-seam fastballs, greens are changeups, oranges are sinkers, and that one yellow dot is a slider.)

After giving him credit for making good pitches but getting poor results over the weekend, the opposite is true here. That’s too many pitches elevated, especially the changeup. While he only allowed one hit, coming off of a center-cut fastball to Story, Wilyer Abreu just barely missed launching an elevated fastball for a game-tying homer.

He’s got to be better if he’s going to remain the closer. The good news is that Daysbel Hernández recovered from a leadoff in the 8th to shut down Boston and put up a clean frame. He’s the logical choice to step into the role if Iglesias either gets removed from it or goes on the injured list.

What’s Next for the Braves?

Game two is tomorrow night at 7:15 PM ET on Fox. Grant Holmes (2-3, 4.14 ERA) takes on Lucas Giolito (1-1, 5.51).