The Braves (51-27) opened a six-game homestand Monday by mashing their way to a 4-1 win over the Twins. It was their 11th victory in 12 games.
Here are five takeaways from Monday:
1. One reason the Braves’ offense has shredded opposing pitching: designated hitter Marcell Ozuna’s resurgence. He came through once again, blasting a go-ahead solo shot off Minnesota starter Sonny Gray in the seventh.
Ozuna has a seven-game hitting streak. He entered the evening hitting .302 with a .974 OPS since May began (43 games). His atrocious April – and the accompanying fan cries for his dismissal – is far in the rearview mirror. Ozuna has re-established himself as a key component of this monstrous offense.
His homer off Gray was only the third the veteran had surrendered this season. Ozuna noted he was 2-for-10 with four strikeouts against Gray before Monday, and he was frustrated after going 0-for-2 in his first two at-bats. He had the last laugh.
2. Spencer Strider had his second consecutive strong start since enduring a difficult two-outing stretch. Strider has been such a success since last season that a couple rough starts are considered stunning.
After allowing one run on eight hits over six innings in Philadelphia, Strider largely shut down the Twins across seven frames. The only damage came on slugger Joey Gallo’s solo homer off a low 97.6-mph fastball. He struck out 10 and walked two.
“It felt good,” Strider said. “(Catcher) Travis (d’Arnaud) called a really good game, as he always does. I was able to execute a lot of pitches today, moving the ball in and out, which was big. (Catching coach) Sal (Fasano) and Kranny (pitching coach Rick Kranitz), had a lot of good dialogue with them between innings, just game planning as we were going.”
Strider’s ERA ballooned to 4.12 following his rough two starts. He’s brought it down to 3.73 with his last two. His 146 strikeouts lead the majors by a comfortable margin (former Braves starter Kevin Gausman is second with 127).
3. The Braves’ offense, which has surged to preposterous heights in June, was stifled by Gray before Ozuna’s blast. But it struck for three runs in the seventh inning, including Ronald Acuña’s two-run homer off Emilio Pagan.
Acuña, who’s already secured a starting spot in the All-Star Game as MLB’s lead vote-getter, is the clear National League MVP frontrunner as the season nears the halfway point. His team’s offense, meanwhile, is perhaps MLB’s best.
The Braves have a collective .921 OPS this month, No. 1 in the majors (the Angels’ .825 ranks second). They also lead MLB in hits (239), runs (150), homers (49) and average (.306).
And they’ve struck out 155 times this month, the second-lowest total in MLB. Overall, the Braves have struck out 641 times, ranking No. 19 among teams.
“We’ve always hit homers, but we’re not striking out like we used to,” manager Brian Snitker said. “We’re a better hitting team with the power. We’re maturing as a team and still keeping the power. Just really good at-bats. I love that we’re not striking out as much. It’s a lot easier to live with this when you’re not striking out all the time.”
4. Ben Heller is the latest unfamiliar name to join the Braves’ bullpen and contribute. Snitker summoned the righty to face All-Star Carlos Correa with runners at second and third with two outs in the eighth (with the bullpen shorthanded thanks to an exhausting weekend series in Cincinnati). Heller induced a soft flyout to Acuña in right field.
“That’s a tough ride right there (Correa),” Snitker said. “That’s a big out in the game right there, obviously, against a really good hitter. So I was excited to see what was going to happen. He handled it great.
Heller hasn’t allowed a run in three of his four outings.
“It’s something we don’t have in the makeup of our bullpen,” Snitker said. “We don’t have that guy with that kind of movement, the velocity and that breaking ball. It could be really good for us if he continues to perform.”
Kirby Yates earned his first save since 2020 with a scoreless ninth. Raisel Iglesias, Nick Anderson, A.J. Minter and Michael Tonkin were all unavailable.
5. The Braves moved to 10 games over .500 at Truist Park with the victory (25-15). The team drew 40,884 on Monday, its 26th sellout this season.
Stat to know
16 (The Braves lead the 35-43 Mets by 16 games in the NL East following Monday’s results. The Mets pushed the Braves in the division last season - both clubs won 101 games - and are sporting a record $359 million payroll, but their season has been a disaster to this point.)
Quotable
“Well, there’s a lot wrong with me, most of those things I won’t talk about now.” – Strider, joking when asked what he learned about himself after two poor starts
Up next
The Braves will start Bryce Elder (5-1, 2.40) against Twins ace Joe Ryan (8-4, 2.98) on Tuesday.
