PHILADELPHIA – By now, you should know this: The Braves will not be defeated by one brutal loss. This is nothing to a group that has experienced it all over the last handful of seasons.
A night after a crushing loss, the Braves returned to the ballpark like nothing had happened and beat the Phillies, 7-2. They are five games back of Philadelphia.
If Atlanta can win the next two games, it will return home with only a three-game deficit in the National League East standings – the smallest it has been since the start of play on May 15.
Five observations:
1. At Citizens Bank Park, they love to boo Orlando Arcia. The rest of the world has moved on – or forgotten – the “Atta boy, Harper” line, but not these fans. They take every opportunity to express how much they dislike him. Arcia and Marcell Ozuna always receive the heaviest boos here.
They might love him even less now.
Arcia homered twice in the win – once off Ranger Suárez in the third inning, then again off Max Lazar in the sixth. This time, he didn’t stare down Bryce Harper. Arcia simply rounded the bases as the boos rained down. His play made the statement.
“I like to think that I’m just a player who goes out there and tries to enjoy his game,” Arcia said through interpreter Franco García. “If they boo me, I still gotta go out there and take the at-bats, so it doesn’t really change much.”
But he did hear the boos.
“I think the whole world could hear it,” Arcia said, laughing.
Arcia, who isn’t known for his bat and struggled for a large portion of the season, has 15 home runs. Eight have come since the start of play on July 28. It’s been a nice lift for an offense that is suddenly receiving contributions from different sources.
During his struggles, he tried to be the same guy.
“I just focus on the fact that we’re a team, and it’s not just me, (it’s) not just one guy,” Arcia said. “So even if I struggle or I have bad at-bats, I can’t focus on myself. I have to quickly turn around and make sure that I’m supporting and praising my teammates.”
Usually, Braves home runs immediately quiet this Philadelphia crowd.
When Arcia hits them, they boo as he rounds the bases – and then they get quiet.
“Yeah, I’m happy,” Arcia said of his homers silencing this place. “If I hit a homer and they stop booing, it is what it is. But for me, it’s more just about enjoying that moment and more so celebrating with my teammates.”
2. There is a saying in baseball: Momentum is the next day’s starting pitcher. It means that, while momentum from one night can carry over to the next, a starting pitching performance is what actually matters.
“That’s the most important guy on the field every night, is the starting pitcher,” Sean Murphy said. “If our starters do their job, I like our odds every day.”
Behind Reynaldo López, the Braves turned the page after Thursday’s ugly loss.
López, a new addition to this rotation and rivalry, allowed one run over six innings. When the Phillies pushed him, he quieted them. The Braves needed this.
And how about López’s numbers against the Phillies this season?
In three starts, he has surrendered two earned runs over 17 innings, with 22 strikeouts and five walks. He’s flummoxed the Phillies all three times. The Braves have won all three of his starts against their rivals.
“I definitely feel grateful that things have gone well against them,” López said through interpreter García. “Yeah, I think there’s a little bit more of a sense of adrenaline when you’re facing that team. They’re a good squad and it’s one of those things where you kind of know that the battles with them – to get through to the postseason, you’re gonna have to go through them as well. I think that adds a little bit more of an enthusiasm and fun to the game.”
How has he kept them off-balance this season?
“Most guys are sitting on my fastball and my slider, and so you know that,” López said. “Especially in the last few times facing these guys, I think some keys to success have been the curveball and the changeup, and just utilizing those pitches. It kind of even took me by surprise just how much the curveball was working and just kind of getting some guys off-balance when I was throwing it, and especially throwing it low the zone.”
If López makes a fourth start against Philadelphia, it’ll be in the postseason.
3. To begin his night, Suárez struck out the first five Braves he faced. He easily retired the sixth on a ground ball.
It seemed he had his best stuff.
But this is why you never speak in absolutes early in a game.
To begin the third, Arcia homered to left-center field for Atlanta’s first hit of the night. Then Murphy followed with a bomb to left field – the 11th time the Braves have gone back to back this season and the first since July 31, when Matt Olson and Travis d’Arnaud did it twice in the same game. The Braves then scored two more runs in the fourth.
They finished with four runs on five hits against Suárez, whose manager pulled him. The Braves apparently figured out something after those first two innings.
“Nothing in particular,” Murphy said. “Just got better swings off. Nothing to point to specifically.”
4. The Phillies and Braves share a trait: They both can stun opponents with a comeback. They fight.
On Thursday, the Braves scored three runs over the first three innings, then one the rest of the way – none after the sixth. On Friday, they led, 4-0, and scored two in the sixth and one in the seventh.
They added. It was important because it gave them more cushion against a dangerous lineup.
On this road trip, the Braves have scored at least seven runs in three of the five games. They plated four and five in the other two – still good outputs.
In an answer about the offense, Braves manager Brian Snitker praised his group. He mentioned Olson. Then Ozuna.
“And anybody else that wants to chip in, they’re more than welcome,” Snitker joked.
The lineup is becoming longer because more guys are contributing. On Friday, Murphy and Ramón Laureano each drove in runs with groundouts. Gio Urshela doubled in a run.
“These guys are fighting their rears off, man,” Snitker said. “We’re kind of in a day-to-day mode where we gotta win today, regardless of the series win. We need every win we can get. It was good to see them bounce back. That was a tough loss (Thursday). Good Lord, that was a struggle tonight, too. I mean, that lineup’s relentless.”
The Phillies never quit.
Luckily, the Braves could deploy a couple of their best weapons.
5. When he spoke with reporters hours before Friday’s game, Snitker said his bullpen was reset after his best relievers had the night off on Thursday. As the Braves headed to the bottom of the seventh inning with a six-run lead, Snitker didn’t take any chances.
He used Pierce Johnson for the seventh. He served up a leadoff homer, but completed the inning after that.
Snitker went to Joe Jiménez for the eighth inning, and he tossed a scoreless frame.
Instead of Raisel Iglesias in the ninth, the manager opted for Dylan Lee with a five-run lead. Lee finished the game.
With that big lead, this seemed like the perfect game for Jesse Chavez or Luke Jackson, who could’ve saved the high-leverage arms for a closer game this weekend. But Snitker said he went with Johnson and Jiménez because they were the most-rested relievers.
“This thing can get away from you here so fast that you just want to put innings down,” Snitker said.
Stat to know
19 - Braves starting pitchers have allowed three or fewer runs in 19 consecutive games, which is a franchise record. This is the longest such streak in baseball this season. (Seattle starters had an 18-game streak of this kind earlier this season.)
Quotable
“That’s kind of what a really good start will do for you. That’s the greatest cure-all in the world, is a start like Reynaldo had. But it was good to see the guys come back, fight and score some more runs. It’s been really good this whole road trip to see the offensive prediction that we’ve had.” - Snitker
Up next
Saturday will be a good one: Max Fried versus Zack Wheeler. First pitch is at 7:15 p.m. and the game is on FOX.
