When the Braves lost the first two games of the trip at Cincinnati against a Reds team that came in with a 3-18 record, there were understandably those who figured that the Braves were about to revert to form from recent seasons and hit a desultory stretch.
Ah, but these aren’t those Braves, even before adding Ronald Acuna to their lineup, but certainly not since. They called up Acuna from Triple-A, won the next two for a split in Cincinnati and went on to win a series at Philadelphia before sweeping the previously first-place Mets at Citi Field, where the Braves outscored New York 21-2 and posted their second consecutive shutout in an 11-0 rout Thursday afternoon.
The 7-3 trip was the Braves’ best of 10 games or more since an 8-3 swing in June 2014, which was also the last year they were in first place this late in a season.
“We started out rough, but we knew it was a long road trip, and we finished up pretty good, I would say,” said veteran right fielder Nick Markakis, who hit one of the Braves’ four home runs Thursday. “I would say it says a lot about our team and the drive our guys have, and it’s awesome.”
Julio Teheran took a no-hitter to the seventh inning, and the Braves provided 11 runs of support while he was in the game, including four homers from the team’s oldest position players, 34-year-olds Kurt Suzuki and Markakis, and from the majors’ two youngest position players, 20-year-old Acuna and 21-year-old budding star Ozzie Albies, who hit his 10th.
“We’ve got a tough lineup up and down, other teams are starting to notice that,” said Markakis, who was 3-for-4 on Thursday and is batting .336 with five homers in 30 games, after hitting .275 with eight homers in 160 games in 2017. “We’ve always noticed it from Day 1 of spring training. We’ve got a great group of guys. We’ve had some great additions, and it’s fun to be a part of.”
The Braves have won seven of eight games since Acuna’s debut and opened a lead of 1-1/2 games in the National League East after coming to New York 1-1/2 games behind.
“We’ve got a lot of young kids, some veterans, some in the middle,” Suzuki said. “It’s that energy that these guys bring. You’ve got Albies, Acuna, (Dansby) Swanson – those young type of players, seeing them come up here and do their thing, it’s pretty fun to be around.”
They’ve won 13 of their past 18 games at Citi Field and handed the Mets their first consecutive shutout losses since the Cubs did it to them June 30-July 1, 2015.
“It’s not just one guy, it’s all of them,” said manager Brian Snitker, whose Braves lead the NL in most major offensive categories and have double-digit hit totals in half of their 30 games, including the past four and seven of the past nine games. “To a man, they go up there and it’s almost like their at-bats are a big deal, they’re not giving anything away, they’re just grinding through each and every one of them.”
Since getting outscored 19-11 in the first two games at Cincinnati’s hitter-friendly ballpark, the Braves have outscored opponents’ 50-19 in the past eight games, including seven wins. They hit .317 with 13 homers and a .901 OPS in that eight-game stretch while their pitchers have posted a 2.41 ERA and held opponents to a 202 average and .604 OPS.
“I loved how we bounced back in Cincinnati,” Snitker said. “Early on I didn’t like the feel, coming of two emotional series at home, then the rainy weather (in Cincy), and it just didn’t feel good. So I was glad how we bounced back in that series and won two really tough ballgames. And played a good series in Philly. So it’s good how we’re just kind of taking it one game at a time.”
Acuna hit a tape-measure homer that was quite a bit longer than the upper-deck shot he hit a week ago at Cincinnati in his second game. His mammoth long ball Thursday came on the first pitch of the fifth inning off left-hander Jason Vargas, a hit recorded at 112 mph off the bat on its trajectory to the second seating level in left field. The projected 451-foot distance equaled the second-longest by a Brave in four seasons.
“I think my ball went as far as Acuna’s, right?” Suzuki said, laughing. “No, like I said, they’re impressive. People look at Ozzie and are like, ‘He’s so small.’ This guy’s got strong wrists. Same thing with Acuna, he’s not very big, but his hands are lightning-quick. You can’t teach that. That’s just special talent, and these guys are showing it.”
