A refreshed and rested Braves squad put it on the visiting Rangers on Friday at Truist Park, winning 15-1 to start the second half of the season on the right foot.
Drake Baldwin drove in five runs in the victory, and ace Chris Sale was his usual dominant self. Every batter in the Braves’ starting lineup recorded at least one hit.
Baldwin’s five RBIs were one shy of his career high and marked the third time in his career he has driven in at least five runs.
“After that little break, you kind of want to have something like this that just kind of gets you going and gets the confidence up because it almost feels like, I don’t want to say a new season, but definitely a different part of the season,” Baldwin said. “After that All-Star break and going in with the trade deadline and, obviously, playoffs coming up in a couple months, it’s super nice to start with that and just get the confidence up and just kind of remind us how good we really are.”
Said Sale: “I think it’s basically like another opening day. We put a lot of emphasis on the first game of the year, and then there we have this, you know, four-day break, so it’s almost like another first game starting the second half,” Sale said. “Just basically from the get-go was just an offensive onslaught. It was a lot of fun to be a part of it. Just a perfect way to kind of start the second half with some energy.”
Sale (10-6), who recorded his 2,700th career strikeout during his outing, went seven innings of two-hit ball. The veteran lefty struck out six, walked none, threw 89 pitches (62 for strikes), induced 16 whiffs, recorded 10 called strikes and delivered 16 first-pitch strikes.
Sale became the first Braves starter to throw at least seven innings this season since he himself did it May 20.
“We’ve put a lot on our bullpen. They’ve been unbelievable for the first half of the season,” Sale said. “So hopefully starting with today we can kind of pick them up for the second half so we can kind of keep those guys fresh for when we get down the stretch and we’re really going to need ‘em.”
The Rangers (49-48) had one hit until Brandon Nimmo began the seventh with a double down the line in left. Sale had retired 12 in a row in between.
Friday’s victory improved the Braves to 13-3 in series openers at home.
The Braves (56-40) scored first Friday, getting to Rangers starter Cal Quantrill (a Braves pitcher for two games in 2025) for two runs in the second inning. Baldwin drove in one with an opposite-field single to left and Ozzie Albies plated another by serving a soft line drive over a leaping Nicky Lopez at second base.
The Braves improved to 36-15 this season when scoring first.
In the fourth, Jim Jarvis’ single up the middle followed Brewer Hicklen’s ground ball off the bag at third that went for a double set the table for Baldwin again. The All-Star catcher golfed an 0-1 splitter 419 feet into the Braves’ bullpen for a three-run homer, putting the Braves up 5-0.
One out later, Matt Olson rocketed his 26th blast of the season, a 420-footer that left the bat at 111 mph and slipped inside the foul pole before landing in the second deck of the Chop House.
Jarvis, facing Rangers reliever Emiliano Teodo, drove in another run in the fifth with an RBI double down the first-base line. Jarvis scored later in the inning on Baldwin’s RBI single through the middle that put the Braves up 8-0.
Quantrill (3-2) was battered by 11 hits and charged with six earned runs.
Michael Harris II just missed a grand slam in the seventh, skying a ball to right that grazed the wall and cleared the bases, making it an 11-0 game. Mauricio Dubón’s run-scoring single after that made it 12-0.
Austin Riley hit his 10th home run of the season, a 390-footer off Rangers catcher Kyle Higashioka, in the eighth inning.
Víctor Mederos allowed a run on two Rangers hits in the eighth. Mederos got his own payback in the bottom of the inning, though, when he got the chance to hit (the Braves burned their designated hitter spot with defensive replacements) and drove in two runs with a hot shot that Rangers third baseman Josh Jung couldn’t handle.
“I was just in disbelief,” Mederos said of the rare feat of a pitcher getting a hit. “I was just like, ‘There’s no way this is happening.’ I did not think I was gonna go to the field and get an at-bat. It was a super cool opportunity and glad it worked out.”