Today's Three Things: Schwellenbach, Murphy carry Braves to series-tying win
The Atlanta Braves offense struggled to capitalize early before their veteran catcher bailed them out
The Atlanta Braves evened up their series with the Philadelphia Phillies thanks to a 6-1 victory in Truist Park on Saturday night.
Here’s Today’s Three Things from the contest.
The Turning Point
The bottom of the 7th inning.
Atlanta was not very efficient at either converting their scoring chances into actual runs or getting crooked numbers on the board tonight (more on this later), but they got it done once and it proved to be more than enough.
Nursing a narrow 2-1 lead, Marcell Ozuna hit a one-out single with Austin Riley and Ozzie both lacing their own right behind him.
Enter Sean Murphy.
Atlanta’s catcher absolutely obliterated a first pitch slider, sending it an absurd 455 feet to left at 114.4 off the bat.
It was Atlanta’s first grand slam of the season, as well as the 3rd-hardest hit ball of Murphy’s career1. Atlanta, obviously, never trailed from that point on as they evened up the series.
Today’s Player of the Game
Just a day after Bryce Elder was shelled for ten runs (nine earned) on eight hits and four walks in just two official innings (he faced batters in the third but didn’t record an out), Schwellenbach showed that the rotation still has a staff ace while Chris Sale is on the injured list.
Schwellenbach finished with just one run allowed on three hits and a walk across his seven innings, striking out twelve. It was a career-high in strikeouts for the righthander, who now has six career double-digit strikeouts games (four this season).
Schwellenbach was able to cut back on the use of his four-seamer in favor of the slider, throwing it 31% of the time (28 pitches) and getting nine whiffs on fourteen swings against the breaker. He finished with nineteen total whiffs and a 41% CSW, allowing only four hard-hit balls total across his seven innings.
Having a “kitchen sink” guy, one that throws a lot of pitches really well and can adjust his arsenal if something either isn’t working for him or IS working against the opponent, is almost a cheat code in modern baseball.
He was lifted with only 90 pitches on his ledger with the #8 and #9 hitters due up for Philly, likely out of a desire to both get Raisel Iglesias a clean inning and to go ahead and go to the pen after Sean Murphy’s grand slam pushed it to a safer lead.
On the season, Schwellenbach’s holding a 3.09 ERA and leads MLB in innings with 110.2. While his 108 strikeouts are only 13th in baseball, his 0.97 WHIP is a top ten mark.
What You’ll Be Talking About
The #3 to #5 hitters, the trio of Marcell Ozuna, Austin Riley, and Ozzie Albies.
Tonight’s performance notwithstanding, they haven’t been good recently (or all season, in the case of Albies), and nothing encapsulates that more than the bottom of the 5th inning.
After a Ronald Acuña Jr. walk and Matt Olson double, Atlanta had runners on 2nd and 3rd with no one out and Phillies starter Jesús Luzardo reeling. This is the moment to break the game open and take a decisive lead.
Instead, the above trio ended the inning…on six pitches.
Ozuna tried to check his swing on the first pitch and sent a weak comebacker to Luzardo for the first out. Riley struck out looking on four pitches, while Ozzie lunged at a slider away and weakly punched it over to third, where Alec Bohm made the putout at first.
We already saw some lineup changes done with slumps in mind - Michael Harris II was benched for Eli White, only entering late in the game for defense, while Stuart Fairchild got the start in left field with a lefty on the mound.
But it’s impossible to sit these three for any meaningful length of time. And that’s needed - in the month of June, they’ve not been very good.
Ozuna’s batting just .196/.273/.299, with ten walks to 26 strikeouts and only six extra-base hits (two homers). Ozzie’s in a similar boat - .196/.279/.250, with four extra-base hits but no homers. Riley hasn’t been as bad as the other two, hitting .255/.294/.373, but he’s picked up only nine RBI despite hitting behind the red-hot duo of Acuña and Olson.
You can bench Harris for a weekend, or play Fairchild against a lefty in place of Verdugo. There’s nothing Atlanta can do when 3/5ths of their aircraft carriers are taking on water. They’ve got to be better.
What’s Next for the Braves?
Atlanta’s hoping to win the series in a 1:35 PM ET start tomorrow. Spencer Strider (3-5, 4.07) takes on Ranger Suárez (6-2, 2.08).
Murphy had a 114.6 mph homer in August 2023 and a 114.7 mph single in July 2023.
You are right on with your judgement calls, Lindsay, as usual. You gotta do something with Harris, Big Bear, Ozzie, Riley...surely something besides ignoring it is available to those "in the know".
Second and third with no outs, and the Braves cannot score. Its great that Murphy, with a low .200ish average, hits a Grand Slam and the Braves finally get a bit of breathing room with 5a win after a 3 game losing streak. However, the second and third with no outs with the Braves failing to score is an issue that must be addressed.