It all evened out for the Braves over the past week.
The Braves were swept by the Blue Jays to begin their road trip, putting them further behind the eight ball after a mediocre April. A few days later, they’re leaving Washington feeling good about themselves after sweeping a division opponent.
Drew Smyly delivered his best start of the season, and the bullpen did enough to hang on, propelling the Braves to a 3-2 win Thursday afternoon in Washington. After losing four consecutive games, the Braves have responded with three wins. And at 15-16, they’re once again on the verge of .500.
Smyly allowed one unearned run on four hits over six innings. It wasn’t the prettiest showing – he struck out four while issuing four walks – but it was much better than his previous outings. Smyly’s fastball hovered at 92 mph, inducing 29 swings on 62 pitches (the fastball generated 18 called strikes and whiffs).
“I executed pitches,” Smyly said. “I had good life on my fastball. I made pitches when I needed to when guys were on base, to bear down and make a quality pitch and get out of that inning, which I hadn’t really done well in the past.”
Catcher Jeff Mathis, who was making his first start for the Braves but had experience with Smyly when both players were with Texas, added: “I thought he had really good fastball command. I know him and (pitching coach Rick Kranitz) were working on some things in some bullpen sessions that really paid off today, especially with his heater. Then he was able to find his curveball deeper in the game, and that was a really good mix for him.”
Unlike his other showings, including the past two when he combined to allow 10 earned runs over eight innings, Smyly looked more comfortable. He recorded only two clean innings, but did a nice job navigating trouble spots. If that’s closer to the Smyly who will show up the remainder of the season, the Braves should feel much better with him in the back of their rotation.
This was the first time the Braves won one of Smyly’s starts. He had an 8.05 ERA in four outings entering Thursday.
“It stinks when you get off to a bad start in April because that’s all there is to go off of,” said Smyly, whose relief was evident. “Most players, at some point in the season, they’re going to have a bad month and hopefully some really good months. … April is nothing to think about. Let’s just get better and move forward.”
The Braves’ first run came courtesy of Marcell Ozuna, who doubled home Ronald Acuna in the fourth. Ozuna, who smacked a grand slam in Wednesday’s game, has a hit in nine of his past 10 games. Ehire Adrianza tacked on two more runs with a single later in the inning off Jon Lester.
Washington almost rallied in the eighth, when the first two hitters reached against Edgar Santana. An out later, Yan Gomes’ RBI single made the score 3-2. Manager Brian Snitker swapped Santana for lefty Grant Dayton, who struck out Kyle Schwarber and Victor Robles to end the threat. His final pitch was a low curveball that was generously called a strike. Had it been a ball, the Nationals would’ve had the bases loaded for Ryan Zimmerman.
Left-hander Will Smith recorded his seventh save in the ninth, pitching around Zimmerman’s leadoff double. Smith retired Trea Turner, Yadiel Hernandez and Josh Harrison to preserve the win.
“We were a hit away from having that thing go south on us,” Snitker said. “And they all (the relievers) stepped up. … The whole bullpen, those guys picked each other up and that was really big.”
The win completed the Braves’ first sweep of a division foe this season. The team has won 15 of its past 24 games in Washington, a place that once was a house of horrors for the Braves (they were 1-19 at Washington in 2015-16). The Braves are 5-1 against the Nationals in 2021.
The Braves begin a six-game homestand Friday against the Phillies. Truist Park will be operating at 100% capacity, making the Braves the second MLB team and first in the National League to fully open its doors.
