At this point, the Diamondbacks must be mystified. They hit Spencer Strider and Max Fried as well as they could have …
And lost both games.
They are not alone. They are only the latest victims of this Braves offense.
On Saturday, Atlanta defeated Arizona, 9-8, in comeback fashion – again. This time, the Braves trailed by six runs at two different points of the game.
Five observations:
1. On the day the Braves learned Spencer Strider suffered damage to the ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow, and might need Tommy John surgery, Max Fried went out and put them in a six-run hole.
The good news for the Braves, and the bad news for Arizona: This Braves offense had 27 outs with which to work. And this group is a tough 27.
“I’ll be honest with you: I felt like, throughout the whole game, even when we were down 6-0, I never sensed a sense of panic,” Jarred Kelenic said. “(The vibe) was pretty confident.”
The Braves scored two runs in the fourth inning, three in the fifth, two in the seventh and two in the eighth. They were ferocious. The barrage never stopped.
In the eighth inning, the Braves tied the game on a Ronald Acuña Jr. single. Two batters later, Austin Riley smoked a base hit into left field as Atlanta took its first lead of the night.
Are you surprised?
You shouldn’t be. This happens often.
“This is a pretty experienced clubhouse and guys are pulling for each other,” Riley said. “We lean on each other a lot, and I think you gotta do that even more in those moments of just pulling for each other, passing it on, give it to the next guy – we did that.”
2. Below is perhaps the best way to put this wild series, and Atlanta’s fight, into perspective:
On Friday, the Braves didn’t have a lead until they won the game on Travis d’Arnaud’s walk-off hit in the bottom of the 10th. On Saturday, they trailed for the first seven innings.
The Braves have only led for one inning this weekend. One of 19.
The Braves – especially their lineup – never quit.
“It’s very tough,” Arizona manager Torey Luvollo said of Atlanta’s lineup, according to The Arizona Republic. “We knew that coming in here. It’s one through nine and there’s no letup. There’s no easy out in the lineup. … It’s a tough environment to play in. With all that being said, I think we should have come in here and won the first two games. But we couldn’t and we haven’t.”
Again: The D-backs aren’t the first to be on the wrong end of the Atlanta avalanche.
3. The Braves’ offense picked up Max Fried, who struggled in the first inning – again – and offered a blunt assessment of himself.
“Just being frank, I gotta be better,” Fried said. “This team has been playing so well, these guys fighting, coming back after putting them in pretty big holes.”
In his season debut, Fried needed 43 pitches to record two outs.
On Saturday, he didn’t record an out until his 26th pitch. He eventually allowed six first-inning runs.
“I think it’s just more of just the little things,” Fried said.
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Fried mentioned two examples: In the first inning, a comebacker that could’ve ended as a double play went right over his glove. In the fifth, his throw to Ozzie Albies to start a double play was a bit off and went into center field as the D-backs scored a run – though Albies was charged with an error for failing to catch it.
Fried through two starts: 10 earned runs over five innings. This has been the worst two-start stretch of his career.
Fried had never allowed 10 or more earned runs over five or fewer innings across two starts … until the two to begin this season.
His team picked him up, but he was hard on himself. (Fried still pitched into the fifth, which was a positive.)
“It just shows the group that we have in there,” Fried said. “Day after day, they come to work and they come to win. They’ve been doing an unbelievable job – the offense, the defense, the bullpen, even the other starters. It’s my time to step up and contribute.”
4. Marcell Ozuna continued his strong start.
In the fourth inning, he smacked a run-scoring double off Arizona starter Brandon Pfaadt. In the fifth, he smoked a three-run homer that brought Atlanta within three runs.
The Braves finished with 15 hits. Six Braves had multi-hit games. Ozuna was one of three Braves to collect three hits.
“Everyone knows what we can do in baseball,” Ozuna said. “We’re always together, we trust each other and we (have) fun.”
5. Starting with Dylan Lee’s 2 2/3 scoreless innings, the Braves’ relievers combined for 4 2/3 scoreless frames against Arizona on Saturday – after the bullpen tossed six shutout innings in Friday’s win.
Through seven games, Atlanta’s bullpen has a 2.10 ERA – the sixth-best mark in baseball.
Stat to know
2 - The Braves have won each of their last two regular-season games in which they’ve trailed by at least six runs. They fell behind the Cubs, 6-0, in September of last year and won that game. Before that victory and the one on Saturday, Atlanta had lost its previous 45 games when trailing by at least six runs, dating to July 31, 2020.
Quotable
“We all believe in each other. I know the bullpen believes in us, the pitching believes in us. They know what our offense can do. It showed today. We’re never out of the game, even if we’re down 6-0 in the top of the first. We always think we’re in it because we can put together a string of runs in the blink of an eye.” - Travis d’Arnaud
Up next
The Braves will send left-hander Chris Sale to the mound on Sunday, and he’ll face Arizona right-hander Ryne Nelson. First pitch is at 1:35 p.m.
