Things came to a standstill at the top of the ninth inning Saturday night at Truist Park.
Braves closer Kenley Jansen had blown a 1-0 lead, the game was tied, and home plate umpire Mark Ripperger was hit on the face mask by a foul ball. Medical officials decided Ripperger should not continue. Braves manager Brian Snitker decided Jansen should not either.
But the Braves closed out the night with 2-1 walk-off win over the Marlins thanks to a base-loaded walk to Robbie Grossman in the bottom of the ninth.
“Just knowing what you can do as a hitter and getting a good pitch to hit,” Grossman said. “That’s the number one thing and, and I got a fastball down, down and in second pitch. And that’s not what I was really looking for. That was a strike. That’s okay, I lived to see some more pitches.”
The Braves are 83-51.
Here are five observations on the game:
1. The Braves planned to pitch Jake Odorizzi Saturday night. But the team opted to scratch the right-hander due to arm fatigue and recalled Bryce Elder from Triple-A Gwinnett to start.
Elder put up a solid outing despite a couple of shaky moments. He walked back-to-back hitters at the top of the third. But he ended his night after six innings, giving up no runs, just two hits, and striking out six.
The 23-year-old right-hander was up with the Braves in the spring but the team sent him down to Gwinnett after he struggled with his command and walked several over the course of his four starts.
He started a couple of games last month, one of which was against the Marlins. Elder had 10 strikeouts over seven innings in that game.
“It felt good,” Elder said. “You know, I was up here the other day, threw against the Marlins, went down through Lehigh last week, felt good with how I threw and then do good to come back up here and throw it well and have a good result. It was a good feeling.”
Despite bouncing between Triple-A and the Braves, Elder has remained present in the moment.
“I mean, I think I try to treat it the same way,” he said. “Obviously, it’s a little different atmosphere than up in Gwinnett, but at the same time, it’s the same game. If I repeat quality pitches, simple as that at both levels, I’m gonna have success, I believe.”
2. The Braves have had several solid spot starts from Elder and other pitchers over the course of the season. It brings some comfort to know that the team has cultivated depth in its minor-league system.
“Yeah, you know, it’s like when I said when we brought those guys up in Miami last time, we were there for the doubleheader games,” Snitker said. “And because we had some guys we wanted to give a blow to and they kind of put themselves on the radar right there with how well they did him and (Kyle) Muller, you know, Ian (Anderson) had a really big start, then. And that’s just really good to know that you have starting depth in your minor leagues.”
The Braves also have that depth in their lineup as well. On Saturday, the Braves turned first to Travis d’Arnaud as a pinch-hitter before it was Grossman’s turn to try to secure the win.
“That’s good that we have guys that we could do that with a matchup every now and then (though) we’re not a big matchup club, but we do have kind of one spot, we can do that,” Snitker said.
3. With the long delay in the ninth inning and the Marlins threatening with two runners on, the Braves opted to go to their bullpen again. They brought in Tyler Matzek for a fresh arm in place of Jansen.
Matzek forced Miguel Rojas to fly out to left center on a 93.6-mph four-seam fastball, which shut down the Marlins’ late rally.
When asked why the team decided to go to its bullpen with its closer on the mound, Snitker said it came down to the long delay due to the injury to the umpire.
“Just a long time,” Snitker said. “You know, he’s (Jansen) never been through anything like that.”
4. For the fourth straight game, Braves third baseman Austin Riley delivered with a home run. The 25-year-old hit a 439-foot homer to lead off the bottom of the fourth to open the scoring.
This is the second time in his career Riley has homered in four straight.
Riley has hit 35 home runs this season, a career-high, which ranks him third in the league behind Aaron Judge and Kyle Schwarber.
“He’s one of our leaders and he’s, you know, one of our better players,” Snitker said. “And this guy is one of the better players in baseball. And with the makeup and everything he has, it makes him even more valuable.”
5. Miami’s Edward Cabrera finished off last month with a 1.90 ERA, giving up six earned runs over 28 1/3 innings. He had 33 strikeouts against 13 walks. Despite a solid August, he was looking to bounce back from a rocky outing against the Dodgers where he gave up six earned runs and walked three.
Despite Cabrera striking out seven, the Braves did not make it easy on the 23-year-old, forcing him to throw 98 pitches in five innings.
Stat to know
32 - The Braves are a season-high 32 games over .500.
Quotable
“I looked bad but you’ve just got to continue to keep going and work through my delivery and get my delivery right. Once my delivery gets back on track, it’s going to be fine.” -- Kenley Jansen
Up next
On Sunday, Braves left-hander Max Fried will take on Marlins righty Pablo Lopez. First pitch is at 1:35 p.m.
