When the Braves were in danger of falling behind by multiple runs, Jesse Chavez saved them. When they trailed by a run in the seventh inning, Forrest Wall, on his first day back here, rescued them.
And in the eighth inning, Ozzie Albies made their efforts matter when he launched a go-ahead solo home run to the top of the Chop House in right field.
The Braves beat the Tigers 2-1 Monday. The win personified their “Next Man Up” mentality. As talented as they are, they also feed off one another.
The Braves have won four of their last five games.
Five observations:
1. In the clubhouse after the game, Wall, who has not spent a ton of time in the majors, sat beside Marcell Ozuna, who has been among the top hitters in the sport to this point. Wall later said that Ozuna always gives everyone tips. He mentioned how Matt Olson and Austin Riley always help, too.
This represents something special about the Braves: Their stars create a positive and welcoming environment – which is not always the case in this sport.
“I think it’s just how you’re accepted when you walk in this clubhouse,” Wall said. “And also, expectations when you walk in this clubhouse. Putting this uniform on (is something) we all take really seriously. I just think it comes from the guys around here and their work ethic, and how they go about their business. It’s contagious to the other players.”
On Monday, the Braves recalled Wall. He found himself in the starting lineup.
In the seventh inning, he stepped into the batter’s box against Will Vest. Riley, the tying run, stood at third base.
Wall grounded the fifth pitch of the at-bat through the right side to tie the game. He felt like he redeemed himself after leaving Riley at second base in the second inning when he struck out to end the frame.
“Just not give in, don’t give up,” Wall said of his mindset. “I had two poor at-bats early in the game and I was in a situation again with two outs to get an RBI, and so I was just pumped that I found the hole and we were able to score.”
The Braves don’t have Ronald Acuña Jr. Michael Harris II just hit the injured list. They haven’t yet acquired another outfield.
There’ll be opportunities.
Wall seized this one.
“From my time here, it’s always been kind of next man up,” Max Fried said. “Anyone has the opportunity and the timing to be able to be the guy, or to be the hero of that game. To be able to battle in that at-bat the way he did, and then find a hole, just putting the ball in play and giving himself a chance, it’s huge, especially his first game here coming back up after being down a little bit.”
2. In certain ways, Ozzie Albies is the heartbeat of the Braves. He’s relentlessly positive. He fights. He plays hard all the time – even when his toe is fractured.
It seemed fitting that Albies put the Braves ahead in this rockfight.
Who better to ask about Albies than Fried? The two debuted in 2017. They are two of three players remaining from that team. (A.J. Minter is the other one.)
“Ozzie always has a smile on his face, he plays the game with such joy,” Fried said. “You know that whether he goes 0-for-4 or 4-for-4, he’s the same guy. To be able to bring that energy and to have that enthusiasm for baseball, it makes moments like today that much sweeter. Especially being able to watch him and see him come through in those situations – there’s so many times I’ve seen him hit go-ahead homers. He works really hard and to see him have that moment, it’s awesome.”
Albies’ homer came off of former Brave Shelby Miller. It snapped an 0-for-15 run.
The blast was his fifth career go-ahead home run in the eighth inning or later.
“I mean, he’ll be hitting homers and having that power when he’s 50 – because the body is going to be the same,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said.
3. As much as the Braves won this game because of Wall and Albies, they were victorious due to Chavez, who kept them in it.
In the sixth inning, he relieved Fried with two on and one out. He struck out both batters to keep it a one-run game.
“I mean, obviously I would’ve loved to put him in a better spot, but he’s shown time and time again that he’s reliable and he makes big pitches,” Fried said. “He’s a big part of this team, big part of the bullpen. For him to come in and have two really big outs, and then cover another inning on top of that, it was a really big part of the game. Him coming in allowed us to be able to come back and win that game.”
Chavez has a 1.21 ERA this season after throwing 1 2/3 scoreless innings versus Detroit. At age 40, he still amazes. He’s able to enter the game at any time, in any situation, and excel.
Before this, Fried allowed one run over 5 1/3 innings. The Tigers drove up his pitch count, but he never folded.
“Any time he’s on the mound,” Wall said, “you know we got a really good chance to win.”
4. Wall tied the game. Daysbel Hernández, also recalled Monday, threw a scoreless eighth inning. And on Sunday, Grant Holmes hurled three scoreless frames in his MLB debut.
It’s unbelievable. Players who put on a Braves uniform almost always contribute in some way.
Why is the Braves organization such a conducive environment for success?
“We don’t have egos here,” Chavez said. “Everybody is treated the same, everybody is treated respectfully and everybody is expected to be counted on. And when you’re expected to be counted on, it makes it that much more joyful to show up each and every day, to understand what job is going to be done that day. And if you’re in the lineup, you’re in the lineup. If you’re not, be ready to come in. And even now from the pitching standpoint, if we’re not starting, if we’re not the next guy up, someone is going to be up and someone knows that, ‘Hey, we need to do what we need to do and feed off of each other.’ Without egos, I think that’s a beautiful thing we got here.”
5. The mood in the room, of course, has improved since that series finale in Baltimore.
“Oh, it’s great, when W’s are on the board. And even when the L’s were going up, we were still the same way,” Chavez said. “There was never a doubt, never a difference, never a thought of, ‘Oh, we gotta step on the gas’ or anything like that. It was just, keep showing up every single day knowing what you got to get accomplished, because we’re all professionals and we all know what we gotta do, and that’s the biggest thing – show up every day, get ready for tomorrow and let’s see what happens.”
Added Albies: “Oh, it’s totally changed when you’re winning. It’s a different energy when you win than when you lose a game.”
Stat to know
.059 - After Monday, opponents are batting only .059 with runners in scoring position versus Chavez. He owns the majors’ best opponents’ batting average in these spots.
Quotable
“Personally, I’d like to think that we’re keeping our head down and staying game to game, and trying to win today’s game. Not out of the woods yet. We still have a lot of season left. There’s no time to get complacent. Right now, it’s about making sure that when we go out there and play the game, we’re worried about winning the game that we’re playing rather than worrying about what happened five games before or the next five.”-Fried on the Braves’ last five games
Up next
Spencer Schwellenbach will lead Atlanta into Tuesday’s game. The Braves will face Detroit righty Casey Mize. First pitch is at 7:20 p.m.
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