The Braves were having trouble coming up with a timely hit Friday against the Cubs’ Yu Darvish until the fifth inning, when a couple of frequent recent catalysts came through again.
Ozzie Albies doubled, advanced on a balk and scored on a wild pitch, stoking a four-run burst of an inning that was capped by Preston Tucker’s three-run homer that propelled the Braves to a 4-0 win in a series opener in frigid conditions at Wrigley Field.
Albies had two doubles and made two spectacular defensive plays at second base, and Tucker hit his third three-run homer of the season for the surprising Braves (8-5).
“Like he did against Scherzer the other day,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said, referring to Tucker’s three-run homer in the first inning of an April 4 win against the Nationals and Max Scherzer. “It’s a big hit. It looked like it was going to be tough to score runs today. (Darvish) kind of left that breaking ball out over the middle of the plate, and he didn’t miss it.”
Tucker has hit .308 with three homers and a team-high 12 RBIs in 13 games, including 12 starts in left field. He was considered a temporary fill-in until the Braves bring up phenom Ronald Acuna, but Tucker is certainly not playing like a temp. His .590 slugging percentage ranks among National League leaders and second on the team among lineup regulars, behind only Albies (.644).
“It felt good,” Tucker said of his homer off Darvish, which came with two runners in scoring position after a two-out single from Nick Markakis and a Kurt Suzuki double. “We didn’t really have much going before that. We had two outs, and Nick and Zuke strung together a couple of hits and I found myself in a good opportunity to get some runs and I tried to take advantage of some mistakes.”
No one would’ve predicted that two weeks into the season, Albies and Tucker would have higher slugging percentages than Braves star Freddie Freeman, who is batting .311 and ranks among major league leaders with a 1.070 OPS that’s comprised of a whopping .492 OBP – he doesn’t see many strikes and has been willing to take his walks – and .578 slugging percentage.
“Huge,” Freeman said of Tucker’s hit Friday, which bounced off a concourse beyond the right-field wall and landed on Sheffield Avenue. “Getting to Darvish in that inning was big. He came up with the big two-out, three-run homer and that kind of sealed the deal for us right there, the way (Braves starter Anibal) Sanchez was pitching it was kind of lights-out.”
Albies, meanwhile, continued a resounding start to his first full season in the majors. The 21-year-old second baseman showed his baseball acumen and range on an inning-ending play in the first inning.
With Kris Bryant on first base and running toward second on contact, Albies was headed toward the base to cover, but when Willson Contreras’ ground ball was rolling toward the spot Albies had vacated, he reversed direction and somehow made it back in time, fielding it and making an extremely quick throw to first base to get the runner.
That play elicited this tweet from Giants and longtime former Pirates outfielder Andrew McCutchen: “Don’t (sleep) on Ozzie Albies. Dude can ball.”
Then to start the fourth inning in a scoreless game, Kyle Schwarber hit a sharp grounder that looked like it would get through the gap between Albies and first baseman Freeman, who was playing near the line. But Albies shot over and made a diving stop in shallow right field, then popped up quickly and threw to first base for the out.
“I expected it after I saw his spring,” Tucker said of Albies. “He’s unbelievable. Offensively and defensively, he’s a stud all-around and we expect him to do damage the whole year and play Gold Glove-caliber defense as well.”
Sanchez, who pitched six innings and gave up three hits for the win, said of Albies, “I can see the energy this guy brings every day to the game. He’s able to get to the ball and catch it beyond second base, catch any kind of ball -- the range that he has is amazing. And the energy he has is contagious for most of the guys over here.”
Freeman said he didn’t expect Albies to get to that Schwarber grounder.
“No, but nothing surprises me anymore out of Ozzie,” Freeman said. “He’s just a little wiry guy. You know he’s going to do something every game that’s going to impress you and wow you, and he’s been doing it on both sides of the ball right now. He’s at the top of the lineup creating havoc and he’s doing a great job right now.”
