The Braves have had a massive power outage — their recent skid has seen their run-scoring capabilities wither without the ball leaving the yard. Tonight, though — and perhaps just tonight, but emphatically so — it didn’t matter. The Braves found just enough to skitter past the Dodgers, 4-3, in a game that featured some single-laden rallies, a key knock by Ozzie Albies, and Raisel Iglesias surviving a critical outfield defensive miscue in the ninth inning.
Bryce Elder was on the hill tonight after having his turn in the rotation skipped due to some knee pain. He breezed through the first, but opposing starter Tyler Glasnow, making his first start since early May due to lingering back spasms, was not so fortunate.
Drake Baldwin started the home half of the first by skirting a single through the infield. Matt Olson then followed with a weak bouncer that got by Freddie Freeman at first base, putting runners on the corners. Mauricio Dubon, batting cleanup for the third time this season (and first since early July), battled Glasnow and then dunked a single into right field on a knuckle curve that was going to hit the dirt — 1-0, Braves. Michael Harris II followed with another roller through the infield, even weaker than Olson’s, doubling the lead. Albies followed with a sac fly on a hanging knuckle curve to make it 3-0.
Then a weird thing happened. With Harris at third and a 3-1 count on Mike Yastrzemski, Glasnow lost control of a fastball and basically spiked it towards Yastrzemski’s shin. That didn’t deter the Braves’ left fielder from swinging at it and missing horribly, nor the Dodgers’ catcher from also whiffing on the pitch. Harris would have and should have scored easily, except… the result was inexplicably ruled a foul, despite the egregious amount by which Yastrzemski’s hack missed the pitch. Apparently, this isn’t reviewable, so the Braves didn’t get a fourth run… at least not there. To add insult to insult, Yastrzemski was rung up after the next pitch was challenged and found to barely clip the zone.
After all that early drama, it was the Dodgers’ turn to bloop their way to some runs. Birthday boy Max Muncy started the top of the second with a solid single off Elder; three bloop singles later in the inning made it a 3-2 game. To make it stupider, both of the RBI bloops were on pitches basically below the zone. That brought up Shohei Ohtani with two on and two out, but Elder managed to freeze him on a pretty blatant 3-2 fastball around the knees, though it required an ABS challenge to end the frame.
I don’t know if Glasnow was just shaking off some rust or fell subject to the dreaded road pitcher first inning penalty, but he came out firing for much of the rest of the game. (Alternatively, you could say he just didn’t get BABIPed anymore.) He struck out the side in the second, got a strikeout and two foulouts in the third, and struck out two more in the fourth. He departed after five, with a 7/0 K/BB ratio.
Meanwhile, Elder’s day was much more BABIP-y, even after that initial rally. Though he had a 1-2-3 third, the Dodgers tied the game in the fourth on a leadoff single, a steal, and a one-out bloop to center. Another single brought up the Ohtani-Elder matchup again with men on base, but this time Ohtani hit a soft liner to left to end the rally. Elder had another 1-2-3 inning in the fifth, but seemed to totter a bit in the sixth. He hit the leadoff guy, and there was yet another bloop single. But, he buckled down and ended his day with two strikeouts.
It was an odd but ultimately fortuitous and effective outing for Elder. For much of his major league tenure, there’s been a persistent issue with his times-through-the-order splits, especially against left-handed batters. Here, the Braves let him face Ohtani multiple times in key spots, but he came through. They similarly could’ve pulled him at any time in the sixth after he hit the leadoff guy, but they didn’t, and he found the two key strikeouts he needed to secure one of his better starts of the year (5/0 K/BB ratio). It’s not the sort of thing that the Braves have been rewarded for often, but it happened tonight.
So, onto the bottom of the sixth we went. Alex Vesia had no trouble with the Braves’ bats. Dylan Lee had little trouble with the Dodgers’ bats in the top of the seventh. In the bottom of the seventh, the Braves managed a mini-rally with Sean Murphy drawing a two-out walk against Jack Dreyer and Baldwin following with a hard grounder single. That brought up Ronald Acuña Jr. and summoned Evan Phillips out of the Dodger bullpen. Acuña battled to 3-2 and then smashed a sweeper 112 mph, but unfortunately he hit it right at Mookie Betts at shortstop.
The eighth saw something that probably had Braves fans tearing their hair out: tie game, and here comes… Victor Mederos? It looked brilliant for a second, as Mederos got a one-pitch popout and then struck out Kyle Tucker. But, then he walked back-to-back hitters. With a lefty due up, the Braves went to Dylan Dodd and the Dodgers pinch hit with Miguel Rojas, but all that happened was a soft fly to end the inning (mercifully not a bloop hit).
Tanner Scott, in the midst of a great season, was the Dodgers’ choice for the bottom of the eighth. Olson greeted him with a hard slice the other way that went for a belly flop double. Dubon squared to bunt against Scott, then pulled the bat back and… hit a sub-50 mph, basically-a-bunt grounder that pushed Olson to third with one out. Harris followed and swung at a first-pitch slider that was running way in on him and hit another sub-50 mph grounder that didn’t score Olson. So, up came Albies, and he delivered the game-winning turnabout, blooping a 2-0 hanging slider into center at 77 mph to push Olson across. The Braves got that long-deferred fourth run after all.
Oh, but we weren’t done yet. More drama came, almost immediately. With the Braves now having a lead, Raisel Iglesias trotted out for the ninth. Ohtani took a 1-0 sinker outside and bashed it the other way. It could have and should have been caught, but Lane Thomas was as awkward as my AIM conversations when I was 12 years old out in left field, and had the ball carom off his glove instead of just catching the ball at the wall. Ohtani never stopped running and made it to third.
But, not to worry! (Apparently.) Iglesias struck out Freeman on a changeup. Betts fell behind 0-2 and then chopped a sinker into the ground, where it bounced neatly to Dubon for the second out. After giving the birthday gift of an intentional walk to Muncy, Iglesias began his battle with Tommy Edman. On the fifth pitch, he threw him a fairly meaty fastball, but Edman weakly lifted it to center, where it fell into Harris’ glove to end the game.
It’s a welcome win for many reasons, in large part because the Braves overcame a huge defensive miscue and managed to come out on top without the longball. The offensive issues persist, but they won’t lose ground tonight. The Phillies are tied with the Mariners at the time of writing.
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