Round 3 of Padres-Braves had a lot Saturday night.
Catcher Travis d’Arnaud suffered a concussion. It came on one of the weirdest plays you’ll ever see – and may not see again for a long time. The Braves’ offense fell victim to an uncommon gem from Michael Wacha.
The result: a 4-1 Braves loss at Truist Park. Atlanta, which is 6-3, will try to salvage a split on Sunday night.
Here are five observations:
1. When thinking about how good Wacha was, we should probably lead with this: He tied a career high by striking out 10 batters for the first time since 2015.
Yes, almost eight full years ago. (He last struck out 10 on June 9, 2015.)
“I haven’t faced him a ton, but I can’t imagine somebody’s stuff being much sharper than that, the way he was throwing tonight,” Matt Olson said. “He made a lot of good pitches. Really, not a lot of mistakes. He was getting ahead of guys and when he needed to make a pitch, he made a pitch. He was getting some guys to expand later in the count. He was deceptive and sharp.”
Olson was the only Braves player to have any real success. He went 3-for-4, including a run-scoring single that ended up being Atlanta’s lone run. Wacha allowed two hits – both to Olson – over six innings.
2. In the top of the fourth inning, San Diego’s Rougned Odor collided with d’Arnaud at home plate. The catcher actually remained in the game until the top of the sixth, when Sean Murphy replaced him.
“I just know I went down in the tunnel and the doctor was looking at him and it was pretty apparent we were going to have to take him out,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said.
The play: Olson fielded a grounder and fired home to try to nab Odor, who bolted from third base on contact. D’Arnaud reached out to catch the ball, then spun around to try and tag Odor. He didn’t catch the ball, and Odor ran through him.
“I don’t think there was any bad intent there,” Olson said. “Probably just going, bang-bang play, my throw was a little glove-side, took Travis that way so he had to reach and try to come around quick. I guess (Odor) bumped into him pretty good.”
Snitker said d’Arnaud will go on the seven-day concussion injured list.
3. That d’Arnaud play became the talk of the game for a different reason: It was strange and you hardly, if ever, see something like it.
Odor did not touch home plate initially. Ha-Seong Kim, who followed him, did. Odor went back to touch home plate after that.
After the Braves appealed, Odor was ruled out. To do this, the Braves had Charlie Morton step off the rubber and throw the ball to d’Arnaud.
The final ruling: Instead of scoring two runs, the Padres scored one. Odor was ruled out, and Kim scored.
The explanation from home plate umpire Chad Fairchild, who said this to a pool reporter: “Once a following runner touches the plate, no preceding runner can come back and touch a missed plate.”
4. Morton allowed three runs – two earned – over five innings. He struck out six and walked three.
He could’ve been sharper. He wanted a few pitches back.
In the third inning, superstar Juan Soto took Morton’s 95-mph, full-count fastball up and away and launched it 428 feet out to right-center field.
The interesting part: This might not have been a mistake pitch, but Morton, who is always nuanced, second-guessed his handling of the situation.
“My fastball, that’s something I usually try to do against lefties is go up and away,” Morton said. “It was a deep count, he saw a lot of pitches. Plus he’s good at hitting balls out over the plate. He’s not your typical lefty. That’s the kind of one where if you look back at that and just go, ‘Man.’ I don’t know if you even really need to challenge him there out over the plate. If you just (throw a) ball (on) a curveball or a changeup or you try to go in and miss in, he’s standing on first, he’s not trotting around the bases.
“Using a little bit more common sense and just saying, like, ‘You got into a deep count with one of the better hitters in baseball, and you’re gonna challenge him out over the plate, 3-2, maybe it’s not the best idea. But at the time, it’s like, I felt pretty good with my heater. I felt like I definitely could have missed in a better spot than that.”
5. Down three runs, the Braves began the bottom of the ninth with two men on and none out against closer Josh Hader.
But Hader struck out Kevin Pillar, Marcell Ozuna and Orlando Arcia to end it.
Stat to know
17 - The Braves have stranded a total of 17 runners in their two losses in this series.
Quotable
“It’s nothing to mess around with at all when your brain gets hit like that.” - Snitker on being cautious with d’Arnaud.
Up next
Braves left-hander Dylan Dodd will make his second career start on Sunday, when he faces right-hander Seth Lugo and the Padres. The game, which begins at 7:08 p.m. will be on ESPN for Sunday Night Baseball.
