Today's Three Things: Braves get walked off in extras after baserunning blunder kills rally

AJ Smith-Shawver put the Braves in a hole early, but third base coach Matt Tuiasosopo might have shut the door in the 9th

The Atlanta Braves were walked off by the Washington Nationals, losing 8-7 in ten innings Nationals Park on Thursday night.

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

The Turning Point

Top of the 9th.

Down by a run, Atlanta sent Sean Murphy up as a pinch-hitter for Nick Allen, and he successfully singled to open the frame. With Luke Williams in as a pinch-runner, Austin Riley smacked one to third baseman José Tena and it absolutely ate him alive, letting Riley reach and moving Williams to second. Matt Olson, who had already homered in this one, launched a ball off the wall in right field and Williams scored easily.

But Riley was sent by third base coach Matt Tuiasosopo and thrown out by a step at the plate for the 2nd out of the inning. And in my opinion, it was the wrong move.

Marcell Ozuna, up to bat next, already had three hits in the game (including a homer). Behind him was Drake Baldwin, who happened to be 0-4 at that point of the game but had three hard-hit balls over 100 mph that didn’t fall for hits (despite xBA’s of .490 & .620 on two of the three).

Why not give those two hitters, who have been among Atlanta’s best hitters of the year, each an opportunity to bat with two in scoring position and only one out? If there are two outs? Sure, send Riley. If you’re about to send the bottom of the order up, sure, maybe send him. But with only one out and Ozuna coming up, a sac fly could have given you the lead. You’ve got to let those quality hitters try to get you a lead.

Today’s Player of the Game

Matt Olson.

Atlanta’s big first baseman continued his recent hot streak - he was 11-21 with four homers, six runs scored, and four RBI on this road trip, including three hits and a homer tonight.

Of Atlanta’s ten hits, six came from the combo of Olson and Ozuna, with two of the remaining four coming from pinch hitters Stuart Fairchild and Murphy.

What You’ll Be Talking About

Other than the send of Riley by Tuiasosopo, it’s gotta be AJ Smith-Shawver’s struggles tonight.

The young righthander was lifted before recording an out in the 4th inning, having allowed seven runs on eight hits with three walks and only one strikeout. While none of the hits left the yard, he gave up two doubles and a triple among his eleven hard-hit balls.

More concerning was his inputs. Primarily throwing just the fastball and splitter (combined 85% usage), he got just two whiffs on 35 Nationals swings. I thnk that some of this was Washington having a good game plan of being aggressive early, when he’s attempting to establish the fastball, and not letting him get ahead and then use the splitter as a chase pitch off of that. Facing him for the second time in a week, they knew what they had to do and executed.

But as I just mentioned, he’s going to need to diversify what he does. He threw only 12 curveballs tonight, getting four called strikes and letting them put just three into play. He also didn’t throw a single cutter, with the pitch seemingly being sidelined during this hot streak he was on.

And if you were curious what that now broken streak looked like? He had a 1.50 ERA after allowing just five earned runs in thirty innings over his previous five starts, all Braves wins. I’m confident he’ll rebound, but it’s going to take some work on his part.

What’s Next for the Braves?

Atlanta’s heading home for the start of a short homestand against the San Diego Padres, who have now lost six straight and just like Atlanta, used a ton of relievers in an extra innings loss today. Both teams have announced their starters for the series:

Friday night: Chris Sale (2-3, 3.62) versus Nick Pivetta (5-2, 2.86)
Saturday evening: Grant Holmes (2-3, 4.01) versus Michael King (4-2, 2.59)
Sunday afternoon: Spencer Schwellenbach (3-3, 3.52) versus Dylan Cease (1-4, 4.50)