Today's Three Things: Braves send the bats back to Atlanta early
The Braves waste a fantastic Chris Sale start by picking up only one run on three hits
The Atlanta Braves dropped their series finale 2-1 to the Colorado Rockies in Coors Field on Wednesday afternoon.
Here’s Today’s Three Things from the contest.
The Turning Point
Atlanta’s offense never really got going in this one, but they had only two innings with multiple baserunners, the 3rd and the 6th.
In the third, Drake Baldwin drew a leadoff walk and Nick Allen singled behind him, but two groundouts to the right side brought in only one run before the third run was recorded on a strikeout.
And then in the sixth, a one-out Austin Riley walk and a two-out Matt Olson walk were ruined when the batters between, Marcell Ozuna and Ozzie Albies, both struck out.
Prospect Chase Dollander, Colorado’s starter in this one, allowed just one run on two hits in his 5.2 innings before leaving with a finger issue (either a blister or a split nail).
Today’s Player of the Game
The veteran struggled with both his velocity and his locations at times this year, but mostly put everything together in this one. Striking out ten in his seven innings of work, Sale set a season-high for both innings and efficiency.
The slider was the real star of the show, with eighteen of his twenty-two whiffs (and eight of the ten strikeouts) coming on the lefty’s signature breaking ball.
While Chris Sale’s average fastball velocity of 94.4 mph was 1.3 mph below his season average, this seemed to be more intentional - saving it for when he needed it - versus not having it at all. He threw his three hardest pitches of the game, a 96.8 mph heater and two 96.2 mph fastballs, as he was “emptying the tank” in his final inning.
What You’ll Be Talking About
The decision to start Eddie Rosario.
Using the argument that “he needs to get at-bats”, the Braves inserted the newly signed Rosario in right field, batting 9th. It’s not the first time they’ve given leadoff hitter Alex Verdugo a day off - he also had a day off for the finale against the St. Louis Cardinals, another day game.
The issue here is that Rosario’s been awful this season, and that showed today. His first two at-bats were both weak grounders to 1st base, coming in at 58.1 mph and 66.7 mph. The third was even worse, a three-pitch strikeout where he whiffed on both of his swings.
With an off day on Thursday, the easy choice to seize momentum by getting to .500 was starting Verdugo and leaving the lineup intact instead of moving everyone around.
What’s Next for the Braves?
Atlanta’s off tomorrow before starting a weekend series against the Los Angeles Dodgers, and some of the pitching matchups are just sublime.
Friday: Grant Holmes versus Yoshinobu Yamamoto
Saturday: Spencer Schwellenbach vs Roki Sasaki
Sunday: Bryce Elder vs Dustin May
Why does Alex keep recycling the "oldies" in lieu of bringing up young talent and giving them experience? I'd rather see Kelenic given a chance to reach his potential than bringing back Rosario who's career is over, even though not a fan of Jarred.