In the first two games of this series, the Braves had to weather an offensive barrage from the Marlins. They didn’t do so effectively in the series opener, and needed a huge hit from Dominic Smith to even the series last night. Tonight, though, it was largely smooth sailing through Marlin-infested waters, as Bryce Elder mostly cruised and the Braves jumped out to an early lead and more or less left the opposition in their wake.
Elder’s first frame was a bit rocky, as he walked Xavier Edwards and then grazed Otto Lopez to put two on with one out. Not to worry, though, a routine flyout and then a slider-slider-slider strikeout of Connor Norby ended that threat. Elder then struck out two more in a perfect second and let his defense help him to a perfect third, before another two strikeouts started the fourth. Norby collected the first hit off Elder with a plonked double down the right-field line, but Michael Harris II flagged down a hard-hit liner by Owen Caissie to keep Miami off the board.
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Chris Paddack struck out both Ronald Acuña Jr. and Drake Baldwin in a perfect first, but the Braves got to him in the second. Ozzie Albies hooked the first Paddack pitch he saw Chop House-ward for a solo homer. The trio of Mike Yastrzemski, Smith, and Mauricio Dubon followed with singles to plate another run; Paddack struck out Acuña to end the inning with two in scoring position.
After that, things were quiet until the fifth, where they got slightly dicey. Graham Pauley did a nice job connecting on a good Elder slider and thwacked it for a one-out double. Deyvison De Los Santos followed with a soft bouncer that Dubon charged, rushed, and threw wide of the bag. Elder then had a very unfortunately-timed lapse in command, issuing a walk (six pitches, but none anywhere near the zone) to load the bases, with Edwards coming up. Elder threw two four-seamers to Edwards. The first missed its spot but nestled in for a strike. The second was fought off and bounced weakly to Dubon, who raced to second and fired on the first — aided by a big stretch from Matt Olson, the initial call was safe at first, but it was quickly overturned on replay review to keep Miami off the board once again.
Paddack departed after a two-out single by Acuña in the fifth. Baldwin followed with a single off new pitcher John King, but the Miami reliever froze Olson on 1-2. After a leadoff single started the sixth, Elder got two groundouts, but neither could be converted to a double play. Skipper Walt Weiss then lifted Elder in favor of Dylan Lee, who walked pinch-hitter Austin Slater but then caught Heriberto Hernandez looking on a 3-2 slider right down the pipe. Elder finished the game with more or less a return to form to his earlier, Bryce Eldar-level of pitching, with a 7/2 K/BB ratio in 5 2/3 innings. Things felt a little rocky for him because his three free passes (remember the hit by pitch) came with men on, but the slider was absolutely on point tonight both in terms of command and in terms of results, with a whiff rate north of 50 percent.
Elder left the game when it was 2-0, but that quickly changed. Austin Riley connected for his first homer of the year, a 400-footer to left center, on King’s first pitch of the sixth. After an easy Tyler Kinley frame in the seventh, the Braves basically engaged in a bit of batting practice against Andrew Nardi: Acuña doubled (on basically a missed sliding catch), Baldwin singled, and Olson obliterated a hanging slider to make it 6-0. Riley added a double for good measure, but was stranded.
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With the game now resembling a rout, the Braves went to Osvaldo Bido for the eighth, and …. egh. Liam Hicks had a two-run homer, Norby reached on a bad throw to first by Riley, Bido uncorked two wild pitches, and Slater walked (again), before Weiss had seen enough and sent Robert Suarez in to restore order. The first batter Suarez faced hit yet another dinky bouncer to Dubon, who took a chance and threw to second — but Albies couldn’t corral the throw. Not to worry, though: Pauley, as the tying run, got beat on a changeup and hit into an easy double play.
The Braves went 1-2-3 against Calvin Faucher in the bottom of the eighth, and Raisel Iglesias easily wrapped up the game. He struck out pinch-hitter Agustin Ramirez on three pitches, clipping the zone with a four-seamer to end the at-bat. He then threw three straight changeups and got three straight whiffs from Jakob Marsee. Edwards ruined the potential immaculate inning with his PA that resulted in a single up the middle, which was a shame because Iglesias ended the game on his third three-pitch strikeout of the night: Lopez waved weakly at a buried changeup to seal yet another series win for the Braves.
Every Brave had a hit except Harris, who went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts. Though the Braves went without a walk, they hit three homers, so, y’know, whatever. They’ll try to keep things rolling after Thursday’s off day in a big weekend set in Philadelphia.
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