PHILADELPHIA — On opening day for both teams, the Phillies’ fans showed up in droves. They packed this place – all 44,452 of them – and were loud. They ferociously booed the Braves, and roared for their own team.
Two and a half hours after first pitch, Citizens Bank Park began to empty. The Braves had crushed the spirits of those here.
The Braves blew out the Phillies 9-3 on Friday and are 1-0 to begin the season, and the Braves have won consecutive opening-day games.
Can you believe the Braves once trailed by two runs? That was a long time ago.
Here are five observations on the Braves’ opening-day win:
1. In the eighth inning, the Philadelphia crowd booed. But it did not boo the visitors.
No, these were for the home nine.
In front of a once-raucous crowd, the Braves dismantled the Phillies – and specifically, the Phillies’ bullpen. The Braves batted around and hung seven runs in the inning to stomp out the Phillies.
“Obviously, we knew coming into it what we were gonna get,” Michael Harris II said. “Didn’t really let it affect us. We just executed at the end and came through.”
In that inning, Olson, the birthday boy, doubled twice. The first led off the inning, and the second cleared the bases and gave his team a seven-run lead.
In between, Harris and Ronald Acuña Jr. drove in runs. The Braves scored another on a wild pitch and one more on Austin Riley’s bases-loaded walk. The Phillies used two relievers in the frame.
Apparently, this was the key for the Braves’ offense: Zack Wheeler exiting the game.
The Braves had no trouble with Philadelphia’s bullpen after Wheeler started the game with six shutout innings.
The Braves in the two innings that followed: Nine runs on seven hits.
2. On Friday, Olson turned 30 years old.
“I was really hoping that I could say I started the season at 29, but the rain messed that up for me,” Olson joked. “I guess it’s my age-30 season.”
It began with a bang: He doubled on three consecutive plate appearances.
Nice start to 2024 after an MVP-caliber 2023, huh?
“He’s a guy that shows up to play every day,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “He’s consistent in his work, his preparation. He maintains an even keel, good, bad or whatever. I think he’s just one of those guys that he lets the results speak for themselves.”
This marked the second three-double game of his career (he also did it in 2022 against the Cubs.) He also became the first big leaguer with three doubles on his birthday since Toronto’s Gregg Zaun, who turned 35 years old in 2006.
Another standout individual performance belonged to Harris, who collected three hits.
3. In the game’s early stages, Adam Duvall went back and forth between the dugout and the batting cage in the tunnel. He was trying to follow the rhythm of the game and, on a windy, sub-60-degree day, stay warm.
“I felt like I was getting my body ready to be able to go in and play a major league baseball game,” Duvall said.
On a TV in the tunnel, Duvall saw that lefty Matt Strahm was warming for the seventh inning. He tried to create a plan he could execute.
In the seventh inning, Snitker called on Duvall to pinch-hit for Jarred Kelenic and face Strahm. Duvall hit a two-run double that tied the score.
“That’s why we got him,” Snitker said.
4. In the seventh inning, Sean Murphy departed with left oblique tightness that he felt on a swing.
He’s headed to the injured list. He’ll receive imaging on Saturday. The Braves will likely recall Chadwick Tromp to be Travis d’Arnaud’s backup while Murphy is injured.
5. Before Friday, the Phillies had faced Spencer Strider eight times in the regular season. Strider won all eight decisions.
And now, Strider has a new toy: His curveball, which has produced great results thus far.
One situation Friday encapsulated the benefits of this pitch.
In J.T. Realmuto’s first at-bat, Strider punched him out with a 98 mph fastball above the zone. In Realmuto’s second at-bat, he swung through a 79 mph curveball below the zone. The two were different looks, and the velocity difference must be difficult to handle.
“Rather than my slider having to fulfill 100% of the opportunities or the situations where I would throw a breaking ball, it doesn’t have to do all of it,” Strider said. “I’ve got a pitch now that can kind of supplement it at times. I think the curveball is really good. (Reporters) asked me if today was like a validation moment. It was already validated for me. I’m pissed off when I give up a hit now on it. My expectations of it are the same as any other pitch.”
Strider allowed two runs – on a two-run homer – over five innings. He struck out eight and walked two.
He threw 12 curveballs. (This is unofficial, as pitch tracking first labeled it as a slider.)
“I feel like they haven’t seen that from him, so it kind of surprised them,” Harris said. “They didn’t really expect it, so it was very effective today and kind of kept them a little quiet.”
Stat to know
1954 – Olson is the first Braves player with three doubles on opening day since Andy Pafko in 1954.
Quotable
“It’s great. Especially to have everybody here on the same schedule with the season. You feel like you see half the team during spring training and never really have everybody around. You take a second and realize the kind of talent we have in here. Aaron Bummer is throwing in the ninth inning of a 9-2 game. That’s a hell of a pitcher.” – Olson on how loaded these Braves are in 2024
Up next
At 4:05 p.m. Saturday, Max Fried faces Aaron Nola in the second game of the series.
