Braves Report: The hunt for .500

Here we go, folks.

Another win today and the Braves are back to .500. Before May.

Not too shabby after that horrific start.

TODAY’S MATCHUP

It’s a day game in Denver!

📺 How to watch: First pitch at 3:10 p.m. Eastern on FanDuel Sports.

⚾ The pitching matchup: Chris Sale (1-2, 5.40 ERA) vs. Chase Dollander (1-3, 7.91 ERA).

Dollander, the Rockies’ 2023 first-round draft pick, made his Major League debut earlier this month. He’s from Evans (outside Augusta) and went to Georgia Southern before finishing up his college career at Tennessee.

📝 The starting lineup:

GOING FOR THE SWEEP

Credit: Geneva Heffernan/AP

Credit: Geneva Heffernan/AP

I wrote about this in today’s Sports Daily newsletter (join the club, if you’re not in already!). And I don’t want to jinx things.

But gracious, it sure feels like the Braves have found their way.

And climbing back to a .500 record so quickly after starting 0-7 would be quite a nice way to end the month of April.

“We want to win as many games as possible,” first baseman Matt Olson said. “Hopefully, here pretty soon, we’ll be on the positive side of that and not look back.”

😤 Here’s the deal: It’s not just that the Braves are winning. It’s how they’re doing it.

Last night’s 8-2 victory was the Braves’ second straight game with 14 hits. And their second straight without a home run, too.

They’re producing runs with singles and doubles and groundouts and sac flies.

The same squad that started the season 1-for-34 with runners in scoring position is now hitting .256 in those situations.

Solid, previously unfathomable work.

😤 And win or lose today, they better keep it going: The Dodgers come to Truist Park this weekend.

A WELCOME RETURN

The Rockies are not a good baseball team. They’ve won four games this year.

But AJ Smith-Shawver’s return to the big-league Braves still offered plenty of encouraging developments.

“Just attacking the zone, just staying ahead of hitters,” he said of his approach. “When you put yourself in good counts, it puts you in good situations.”

🤔 Y’all think he should stick around in the rotation, even after Spencer Strider returns?

PARTY LIKE AN ALL-STAR

Several weeks ago, I shared a little tidbit from an interview I had with MLB Senior Vice President of Special Events Jeremiah Yolkut.

He hinted at “a large theme park” coming to the Cobb Galleria when Truist Park hosts the All-Star game in July.

⭐ Now we have more specifics — and you can go ahead and buy tickets, too.

More details here, but four days of festivities include visits from mascots, former Braves and Hall of Famers. Plus museum-type exhibits and lots of interactive stuff like this:

⭐ Regular admission is $35, but you can get tickets for $10 for a limited time. Go to AllStarGame.com and use the code “PBPO.”

OUT OF LEFT FIELD

A tad random, but — have y’all seen this beef brewing between Braves legend Chipper Jones and NASCAR driver Joey Logano?

We won’t get too far into the weeds, but basically: Jones didn’t like the harsh words Logano shared with a teammate at Talladega over the weekend. He voiced that displeasure on social media.

🗣️ Logano responded: “That’s like me saying something about baseball. I know nothing about baseball. That’s like me saying something that he did something in baseball that was wrong. That doesn’t matter.”

Thanks for reading Braves Report. Tell a friend — and maybe give the AJC’s Sports Daily newsletter a shot, too.

Until next time.