In a season marred by injuries and offensive struggles, the Braves could have easily rolled over and looked ahead to 2025.
Instead, Atlanta is right in the middle of a National League Wild Card race.
After the Braves won the first two games of this weekend’s series at Truist Park – outscoring the NL West-leading Dodgers 16-3 over 18 innings – Atlanta entered Sunday’s contest a half-game ahead of the New York Mets for the third and final wild card spot.
The Braves are without key offensive pieces like third baseman Austin Riley (fractured right hand), second baseman Ozzie Albies (fractured left wrist) and right fielder Ronald Acuña Jr. (ACL tear in left knee).
After Atlanta scored 10 runs on nine hits to down the Dodgers 10-1 on Saturday, the Braves (81-67) moved to a season-high 14 games over .500. The Braves have 20 wins in their last 32 games dating back to Aug. 11 and their 20-12 record since that date is fourth best in baseball.
“It’s amazing we’re sitting here where we’re at right now with 13 games to go,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “We’re still right there in the hunt. (With) everything that we’ve been through and the new guys that come in, and the guys that have been there and what they’ve done, it’s been something else to watch. These guys have hung in there and battled through some adversities. All the new faces have come in and helped right away. It’s been a rough year, it’s been kind of a special year in some respects too that these guys can hang together and stay in this thing.”
Utility player Whit Merrifield has dealt with unlucky injuries since he was signed by the Braves on July 22. His latest injury happened when he fouled a ball off his left foot, and broke it, during a Sept. 6 game against the Blue Jays.
Merrifield was not hindered, though. He was cleared to play with a broken foot and the injury doesn’t seem to bother him. Merrifield returned to the Braves’ lineup for Game 1 of the Dodgers series and went 2-for-4 in the 6-2 victory. Merrifield had another good game on Saturday as he went 3-for-4 with an RBI.
“He says it feels good,” Snitker said. “He said his biggest problem is stopping when he gets a head of steam. It hasn’t looked bad at all. I haven’t seen him favoring it or anything like that. He’s told me that he’s OK with the plays he’s making. That first at-bat (Saturday) he beat out an infield hit. The plays he made (Saturday) in the first inning, I don’t think people realize how big those are when your (get your) starting pitcher out of an inning like that. That probably saves him another inning that you can run him back out there.”
On Saturday, the Braves tallied 10 runs on nine hits without hitting a home run. Orlando Arcia and Matt Olson delivered the big blows with a three-run double apiece.
“That’s not something we do very often,” Snitker said. “It was good just to see the big hits from Arcia and him going the other way into the gap. That was really nice at-bat. And Matt, just to get those hits with runners on, it’s something we had a hard time doing.”
Clemente Day
Sunday was Roberto Clemente Day in Major League Baseball and the league paid homage to the late Hall of Famer and 15-time All-Star who died in a 1972 plane crash.
Right-handed pitcher Joe Jiménez, left-handed pitcher Chris Sale and outfielder Jorge Soler all wore Clemente’s No. 21 during Sunday’s game in honor of the baseball great.
“You remember as a kid how he galloped and you’d see those pictures of him completely in the air running the bases,” Snitker said. “I got to spend a lot of time with Bruce Dal Canton who was my pitching coach and had played with (Clemente) in Pittsburgh. It was really special what that man meant to his teammates and the city; the humanitarian efforts that he was part of. It’s kind of a special day. I’m glad we celebrate it and I’m glad our guys that are connected with that get to wear the (No.) 21.”
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