The Braves’ offense has found early success.
While their overall production has been inconsistent, the Braves routinely have started games with a bang. They lead the majors with 44 first-inning runs this season. Interestingly enough, the Mets – their National League East rival whom they’re facing this weekend – are the best in baseball at suppressing first-inning offense, allowing only 12 runs in the opening frame.
The 44 first-inning runs are 18% of the Braves’ overall offensive output. They rank third overall in the NL with 241 runs scored, trailing only NL West powerhouses Los Angeles (258) and San Diego (247).
One reason for the team’s early fireworks is second baseman Ozzie Albies, who’s hitting a robust .481 in the first inning. His 10 first-inning RBIs are tied for most in MLB. Third baseman Austin Riley likewise has been dangerous to begin games, posting a .538 on-base percentage and 1.000 slugging percentage.
The Braves entered Saturday at 24-25, tied for second place in the NL East. They trailed the Mets by 2-1/2 games before their head-to-head meeting Saturday evening at Citi Field.
Braves notes:
- With Friday’s rainout, there will be another doubleheader on deck for the Braves later this season in New York (the makeup date hasn’t been announced). The Braves are 2-2 in seven-inning doubleheader contests this season, sweeping the Nationals in Washington and getting swept at home against the Diamondbacks. They’re 7-3 in seven-inning games dating to last season, when they were 5-1 in such contests.
- Braves starter Ian Anderson entered his start Saturday vying for history: He could become the first native New Yorker to defeat the Yankees and Mets on the road during the same season. Achieving such would be a nice feather in the cap of Anderson, who despite his New York roots grew up a Red Sox supporter.
- Reliever Shane Greene has struck out four in 2-1/3 innings during his stint with Triple-A Gwinnett, where he’s been building toward rejoining the major-league bullpen. He’s scheduled to pitch again Sunday.
“It’s just going to go appearance by appearance, see how he feels,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “There’s still no timetable. There’s a plan for him, but we’re just going to take it an outing at a time.”
Greene, 32, re-signed with the Braves earlier this month. The Braves’ hope is that Greene helps stabilize the bullpen, which has yielded up-and-down results. Greene had a 3.27 ERA across 55 appearances over the past 1-1/2 seasons with the Braves.
- Snitker complimented catcher Alex Jackson, who homered three times for Gwinnett on Thursday. He said reports on Jackson and veteran backstop Jonathan Lucroy, also at Triple-A, have been good. “You can’t have enough of those guys,” Snitker said of the team’s catching depth.
His praise extended to youngster Shea Langeliers, who has four homers in his first 53 at-bats at Double-A Mississippi. Langeliers, along with current Braves backstop William Contreras, is considered one of the organization’s catchers of the future. Langeliers’ defense already is considered advanced, so all eyes center on his hitting growth.
- How competitive is the NL East? It’s statistically by far the tightest division race in the majors. The Nationals are in last place in the division, sitting 4-1/2 games behind the Mets entering Saturday. The East is the only division in which its last-place club is within five games of pole position. The next closest a last-place team is to its division leader is Texas in the AL West. The Rangers are 9-1/2 games behind the A’s.
It helps that no East team has gone on a major run. The Mets’ 24 victories are the fewest among first-place teams and five behind the Cardinals’ and Cubs’ 29 wins, the next-lowest win total for a division leader. Every other first-place team has at least 30 wins as of Saturday afternoon. The Mets are also one of two division leaders with a negative run differential (minus-9), joining the A’s (minus-4), whose differential is a bit skewed by their 1-7 start (they’re 30-15 since).
