Leave it to a Ronald Acuna hit-by-pitch to rouse the Braves, leading to one of those timely explosive innings that has become commonplace with this franchise over five years.
Phillies ace Zack Wheeler, perhaps currently the hottest pitcher on earth, was rolling in his hometown postseason start. He was averaging 10 pitches per inning through five frames, matching Kyle Wright to keep Game 2 of the National League Division Series scoreless.
Then came the spark of so many Braves extravaganzas: Acuna, who took a 96-mph pitch to his elbow with two down in the sixth. It appeared for a moment, as Acuna visited with trainers, that he would exit the game. He instead remained and later scored the breakthrough run of a 3-0 victory that evened the NLDS.
Once again, Acuna, even wincing, injected life into his team.
“He’s got so many weapons; his legs, the bat, the power, the whole thing,” manager Brian Snitker said when asked why Acuna is the spark so often. “He can score from first on a double. It’s a lot of things. He’s just kind of that electric guy that does have that penchant for igniting things, especially this time of year, when he gets on. It’s pretty good to get those guys coming in behind him.”
The hit-by-pitch was Wheeler’s ninth pitch of the sixth inning. He required 20 more to complete the inning. Shortstop Dansby Swanson, he of five strikeouts in two games, followed Acuna with a six-pitch walk. It was the first time the Braves had two base runners.
Enter first baseman Matt Olson, who has created meaningful moments lately. He homered in each of the three victories over the Mets that essentially clinched the division. He blasted a three-run homer Tuesday that pulled the Braves within a run in the ninth.
Olson swung at a slider that he grounded to first baseman Rhys Hoskins, but the ball ricocheted off Hoskins glove and into shallow right, scoring Acuna. Hoskins wasn’t charged with an error, but perhaps he should’ve been. Even preventing the ball from reaching the outfield grass could’ve rewritten this story.
“I think if you asked Rhys, he would say he should make that play,” Phillies manager Rob Thomson said.
Nonetheless, Olson had another key hit late in his inaugural Braves season. He was hitting .117 with a .391 OPS over the first 22 games of September, a lull he described as “probably one of the lower points of my baseball career.” He closed the month hitting .375 with a 1.416 OPS over the final nine games. He has three hits and four RBIs in two postseason games.
“Everything now is about getting the team a win, but it’s always nice to have those moments,” Olson said. “Just glad we pushed a few across off Wheeler. He had really good stuff tonight, I thought.”
A rattled Wheeler suddenly seemed vulnerable following Olson’s hit. His scoreless streak snapped at 20 innings. His strike-throwing propensity dissipated. Wheeler threw consecutive elevated balls to third baseman Austin Riley before the All-Star displayed why baseball’s charm isn’t always found in the long ball.
Riley slapped a chopper toward third base. Wheeler was forced to awkwardly field the ball and couldn’t stabilize himself enough to throw to first. Swanson dashed home. The Braves had more runs (two) than they had hits (one) before the sixth.
Wheeler greeted catcher Travis d’Arnaud with a slider in the dirt. A six-pitch battle commenced that d’Arnaud won by striking a slider up the middle. Olson scored for a 3-0 lead. The Braves had three of their four hits in the frame, and that was enough.
“I think it’s the beauty of playoff baseball,” Swanson said. “Everything goes out the window this time of year. You’ve just got to find ways to make things happen. And it was them yesterday with the two outs, and it was today -- Ronnie with the hit-by-pitch, a walk and then Oly putting together a great at-bat. And the same thing with Riles and Travis. An inning is never over.
“Come postseason, man, it’s all about pitching, defense and timely hitting. I felt we checked all those boxes tonight.”
The sixth inning, with all the skill and favorable bounces it entailed, spared the Braves a disastrous position. In MLB history, 77 of 87 teams to take a 2-0 lead in a best-of-five advanced. The Braves themselves are 2-9 when losing a Game 2.
History still smiles on the Phillies. The Braves have lost 17 of 21 series after losing in Game 1 (they won the NLDS against Milwaukee a year ago despite such circumstance). Game 1 winners advance 71% of the time (102 of 144) in best-of-fives. The Phillies stole one down South, giving them home-field advantage Friday and Saturday – they’ll still win the series should they hold serve at home, where they split 10 games with the Braves this season.
But the Braves won’t be intimidated by the raucous crowd. And as they showed Wednesday, even when they aren’t mashing homers, they can figure it out. If they’re going to advance to a third consecutive NL Championship Series, they’ll need to figure out at least one victory in Philadelphia.
“I’ve been in Philly when it’s crazy,” Snitker said. “When I was a third-base coach, every game we played there was nuts. These guys are used to it. It’s going to be the so-called hostile environment, obviously. But they’re used to, the last two nights – this whole year has been nuts here. It’s been like playoff baseball pretty much the entire year here.
“I don’t think it’s anything that they haven’t been exposed to and probably they’ll feed off it like they feed off our fans here in Atlanta.”
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