Today's Three Things: Eli White continues to dominate as Braves takes down the Diamondbacks
It's Eli White Week for the Atlanta Braves as he powers them to yet another win
The Atlanta Braves took down the Arizona Diamondbacks 8-2 on Friday night from Phoenix’s Chase Field.
Here’s Today’s Three Things from the contest.
The Turning Point
Atlanta had multiple three-run frames, but the 2nd inning is the one we’re going to talk about.
After a shaky bottom of the first from Chris Sale, who took 29 pitches and loaded the bases in the inning, the Braves offense went out and put up a crooked number on Zac Gallen. Michael Harris II hit a one-out single and scored from first on Eli White’s double, while Alex Verdugo hit a two-out flare double - this ball dropped perfectly between the charging left fielder, the retreating shortstop, and the foul line. White was running the entire time and scored from 2nd, with Austin Riley bringing Verdugo in from second on a laser through the left side in the next at-bat.
The runs seemed to allow Sale to settle down a bit - over his next four innings, while he had some trouble to work through, he allowed just one run on one walk and three base hits to get his first win of the season.
Today’s Player of the Game
Give me Eli White. Starting in right field after being Wednesday afternoon’s hero, White continued his torrid week by going 2-4 with a run scored and two RBI. Not to be pigeonholed as a one-dimensional slugger, he added an impressive catch at the wall in foul territory, snagging the ball before crashing into the padding in foul territory to shut down a potential Diamondbacks rally in the 6th inning.
If he keeps playing like this, he’ll absolutely keep getting starts at the expense of Jarred Kelenic, who was on the bench despite a righty being on the mound for Arizona.
Also, fun fact time: Eli White has driven in five runs in his last five plate appearances, which is more than Jarred Kelenic and Orlando Arcia have in 96 combined plate appearances for the season (three).
What You’ll Be Talking About
Chris Sale’s making his way back.
The veteran lefty still didn’t go very deep in this one, pitching only five innings, but he did it while only allowing one run on five hits and two walks. Sale got in trouble in multiple innings and got out of it virtually every time, including bases loaded with only one out in the 1st inning and a runner on 3rd and one out in the 3rd.
He picked up eleven whiffs tonight, but ten were on the slider. While the velocity is back to his norms, he still doesn’t seem to have great control of the four-seamer.
But for this game, it was good enough to keep a high-scoring Diamondbacks offense mostly at bay. The only run that came in off of Sale for Arizona was in the fourth, after consecutive two-out singles scored Eugenio Suarez from second base, who walked earlier in the inning.
What’s Next for the Braves?
Atlanta’s looking to secure an early series win. Grant Holmes (2-1, 3.22) takes on Merrill Kelly (3-1, 4.73) at 8:10 PM ET.