Hey, y’all. Have you heard the good news?
Sure looks like Ronald Acuña Jr. will be back in action this weekend. He’s already in Ohio awaiting his teammates.
THE SERIES AHEAD
Three road games against the Guardians. I hear Cleveland is beautiful in August.
📺 How to watch: Tonight’s series opener and Friday’s Game 2 both start at 7:10 p.m. Sunday brings a 1:40 p.m. first pitch.
All on FanDuel Sports.
⚾ The pitching matchups: In chronological order …
- Hurston Waldrep (2-0, 1.54) vs. Joey Cantillo (3-2, 4.11)
- Joey Wentz (3-3, 5.03) vs. Slade Cecconi (5-5, 4.11)
- Erick Fedde (4-12, 5.40) vs. Logan Allen (7-9, 3.94)
📝 The scouting report: The Guardians have won seven of their last 10 and enter tonight’s contest at 63-57 before Thursday’s game, half a game out of the American League’s final wild card spot.
They’ve scored the third-fewest runs in the AL, but the pitching staff keeps them competitive … when it’s not mired in a “micro-betting” scandal. (More on that in a bit.)
SERIES WRAP-UP
The Braves took two of three from the Mets. We’ve got takeaways.
1️⃣ The resurgence is real: Quite literally one of baseball’s worst hitters for most of the season, Michael Harris II has turned things around in fabulous fashion.
The Braves’ center fielder went 7-for-13 with five runs and five RBIs against the Mets. Even before Thursday’s three-hit performance, he was slashing .366/.385/.693 since the All-Star break.
“Coming out of the break,” Harris said this week, “I made sure I was working on what I needed to work on and it’s getting me results in the game.”
2️⃣ And it’s not just Harris: Ozhaino Jurdy Jiandro Albies (Ozzie to you) came out of nowhere to drive in three of the Braves’ four runs in Thursday’s series-clinching win. Hopefully that’s a sign.
“I definitely feel better,” Albies said. “I’ve kept grinding, playing hard, kept working on everything. Defense, hitting, all around. The season isn’t over and we have to keep pushing. You never know.”
Overall, Atlanta scored nearly 6.5 runs per game over the last week.
3️⃣ Rotation woes: Bryce Elder’s strong seven innings on Thursday notwithstanding, the Braves’ starting rotation remains a mess.
Spencer Strider got shellacked, fill-in Carlos Carrasco is gone after another poor outing and, per the AJC’s Gabe Burns, we shouldn’t expect Spencer Schwellenbach or Reynaldo López to return this season.
Chris Sale makes his second rehab start with Triple-A Gwinnett on Sunday.
MATTY MAKES IT 741
Parkview High School grad. Gold Glove first baseman. Chop House terrorizer. And Atlanta’s new iron man.
Matt Olson played in his 741st consecutive game on Thursday — passing Braves icon Dale Murphy for the fifth-longest streak in MLB’s divisional era.
The only players with longer consecutive games streaks since 1969:
- Cal Ripken Jr. (2,632)
- Steve Garvey (1,207)
- Miguel Tejada (1,152)
- and Pete Rose (745)
Baseball gods willing, Olson will pass Rose on Tuesday.
💪 Olson admitted there’s luck involved. But, he said: “You owe it to the team, the fans, your teammates, everybody; they’re paying you this money to go out and play. If you’re able to do it, if you don’t feel bad, if it’s something you can play through, you go out and do it. Nobody is 100% except for the first week of spring training. You owe it to everybody to grind it out.”
ABOUT THAT INVESTIGATION
As I alluded to earlier, Guardians pitchers Luis Ortiz and Emmanuel Clase (a top-tier closer) are currently on “non-disciplinary paid leave” from the team.
Why?
A sports gambling investigation.
In Clase’s case, we’re talking about at least two situations in which an inordinately large amount of money was wagered on him throwing balls on specific pitches. (Yes, you can bet on that in some places and yes, his pitches were nowhere near the strike zone.)
State gambling regulators have now joined MLB in investigating, while Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine wants to ban prop bets all together.
🤔 Don’t miss this weekend’s action on FanDuel Sports!
THIS DAY IN HISTORY
On Aug. 15, 1983, star third baseman Bob Horner broke his wrist sliding into second base.
A couple days later, the Atlanta Constitution published a (cringey) piece blaming it on the Braves organization — for removing the outfield tepee occupied by human mascot Chief Noc-a-Homa:
“Since the company took down Chief Noc-a-Homa’s tepee at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium, the Braves have lost 1. two out of three to the Dodgers, 2. a shutout to San Diego and 3. Bob Horner for the season, to a broken wrist. And Lord knows what further disaster may have befallen last night, if the Great Spirit did not grant the mercy of brief respite.
“All this so the countinghouse types can run their hands through the extra lucre from just 250 stadium seats.”
Different times.
Thanks for reading Braves Report. Tell a friend — and maybe give the AJC’s Sports Daily newsletter a shot, too.
Until next time.
About the Author
Before taking over the AJC's Sports Daily newsletter, Tyler Estep spent two years writing the A.M. ATL newsletter. A Gwinnett County native and University of Georgia graduate, he has been with the AJC since 2015 and previously worked as a reporter on the breaking news, hyperlocal and local government teams.
