Fans at Truist Park enjoyed a true pitcher’s duel Saturday between Charlie Morton and Tanner Bibee; one that required 11 innings to complete. Ultimately, the Braves lost to the Guardians 4-2 and have split the first two games of this three-game series between MLB’s best teams, record-wise.
It was just the Braves’ second loss in the last 12 games.
Here are five observations from Saturday:
1. Fast-forward to the eighth inning when both teams scored twice to reset a contest that spent seven frames scoreless. Cleveland produced theirs with a barrage of soft hits and good fortune against Joe Jimenez. The exit velocities on the Guardians’ three hits off Jimenez: 25.4, 27.8 and 31.1 mph. The first run scored when Jose Ramirez barely beat out a double play. The second scored when Cleveland executed a double steal, with Steven Kwan swiping home.
“He had two mishit balls and a well-placed bunt,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said of Jimenez’s outing. “They just kind of hit them where we weren’t. That’s the way it goes.”
2. The Braves scored their two eighth-inning runs thanks to doubles from designated hitter Marcell Ozuna and catcher Travis d’Arnaud, along with a bloop single to center from outfielder Jarred Kelenic. But they missed their share of opportunities throughout the night.
When Kelenic’s bloop found grass, outfielder Michael Harris II scored the game-tying run. But speedster Luke Williams was also waved home behind him. Williams was thrown out (“They had two good throws to throw that runner out,” Snitker noted). Kelenic was then left stranded at second when Ronald Acuña grounded out.
In the ninth, third baseman Austin Riley hit a 383-foot flyout to left that fell short of the wall. In the 10th, the Braves loaded the bases with none out. Harris grounded into a force out at home. Catcher Chadwick Tromp struck out and Kelenic grounded out.
“We loaded the bases with nobody out, I was kind of mad, about lost my shirt on that one because I figured we’d score a run there,” Snitker said. The Braves typically produce with runners in scoring position, though. They were hitting .311 as a team in that stat entering the night, behind only the Brewers (.328).
3. This was Morton’s best outing of the season. The 40-year-old – that makes him older than Guardians manager Stephen Vogt, 39, by the way – twirled seven scoreless innings, allowing four hits while striking out six and walking one. He went head-to-head with Bibee, who tossed seven scoreless while allowing just two hits and striking out nine.
In his last two starts, Morton has allowed two earned runs on eight hits over 13 innings. He’s pitched at least 5-2/3 innings in every outing this season.
4. Give Cleveland credit. The Guardians (19-8) own MLB’s best record because they’re loaded with pitching and they consistently perform well in the small aspects of the game. The Braves have praised what they’ve seen from Cleveland, with Morton particularly impressed.
“I thought their whole team was really good,” Morton said. “I felt like the vibe over there, it seems like it’s a good squad. (Bibee) certainly threw the ball really well tonight. I thought he was aggressive with his fastball, thought he had a really good breaking ball, slider was really good. He struck out a lot of really good hitters. That division is going to be there for them if they can stay on a roll. I got the feeling from them that they’re pretty squared away.”
5. The Braves’ rotation has excelled in the last week. In the past five games, the group has a 0.49 ERA, allowing two earned runs over 36-2/3 innings. It’s an excellent run, especially considering the Braves are down injured ace Spencer Strider.
But Morton reminds that it’s early, and Strider’s absence won’t be evident over a small sample size.
“It’s still April, so we have a lot of baseball to go,” Morton said. “I don’t think that you can really see the impact that Strider’s absence will have in just a matter of a couple weeks. I don’t think that’s a way to gauge it. We’ll look back at the end of the year and see if we picked up the slack and filled in that role, picked each other up. It’s too hard, and frankly pointless, to even think about it right now.”
“I think we’re talented as a staff, we have some guys with really good stuff. We have some guys in the minors who are really high upside guys and good dudes, if need be. We’ll just go day-by-day and see where we’re at. And try to keep throwing the ball well.”
Stat to know
18-7 -- The Braves are 18-7, one game ahead of last year’s pace through 25 games. The 2023 Braves earned 104 wins.
Quotable
“I think Travy (d’Arnaud) put down some great fingers. He was pretty artistic, creative. And I think those are pretty fun games to pitch when the catcher is challenging you and encouraging you to try to make some pitches you may not normally make. That’s what makes Travy a lot of fun to throw to.” – Morton on his work Saturday with catcher Travis d’Arnaud
Up next
The series concludes Sunday with Bryce Elder (1-0, 0.00) opposing Cleveland righty Ben Lively (0-1, 2.38).
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