I mentioned in the series recap for the Toronto Blue Jays series that the relative lack of sweeps for the Atlanta Braves in the midst of this excellent season so far was the definition of complaining about first-world problems as far as baseball was concerned. It’s difficult to complain about anything when Atlanta has both the best record in baseball and the largest divisional lead as well and pointing out a lack of sweeps felt like the textbook definition of making a nitpick.
Well, the Braves decided
to shush that particular nitpick with the performance that they delivered over the course of this weekend series. While it certainly helped matters that the Braves lucked out by avoiding Paul Skenes during this series, the pitching matchup still figured to be a tough one for Atlanta since Pittsburgh’s pitching staff has been effective for them all season. As such, the Braves were going to have to lock in at the plate in order to get the job done across all three games. As it turned out (and as you’d expect with the way this team has performed so far), Atlanta was up for the challenge and now it’s time to take a closer look at how it all went down.
Friday, June 5
Braves 6, Pirates 3
This has been a pretty big week for Mauricio Dubón — you know that’s the case when you’re in the podium twice during a homestand. That was the case for Dubón, who earned some more praise from the media with his performance in the series-opening win for the Braves over the Pirates. Dubón went 2-for-4 with three RBI and as you can imagine, all of those hits and RBI came in very big moments for the Braves. When the Braves were down 3-1 in the third, Dubón came through with a homer on a two-strike count against Mitch Keller to tie the game up. He then delivered another two-strike hit on Keller with an RBI double in the fifth that put the Braves ahead.
As it turned out, the Braves went ahead for good after Dubón’s big hit. Dominic Smith hit a deep sacrifice fly to give the Braves some breathing room and then Austin Riley hit a double off the bricks in right field for another RBI that pushed the lead to 6-3. Following another solid outing from Martín Pérez, the back-end of Atlanta’s bullpen delivered another strong performance and while Raisel Iglesias did have to deal with two baserunners in the ninth, he held them where they stood on the base paths and the game ended 6-3 for Atlanta.
Saturday, June 6
Braves 6, Pirates 3
The Braves paid tribute to the French Open by throwing a couple of 6-3’s on the scoreboard this weekend. Of course I’m kidding but it was still lovely to see the Braves take the series in “straight sets” of sorts with another big win. Braxton Ashcraft got the nod for this one, which meant that there was an expectation for there to be tough sledding for Atlanta’s lineup in this one. As it turned out, Atlanta ended up giving Ashcraft his worst lashing since back in April, which is when he gave up six runs in 4.1 innings against the Cardinals.
This time, Atlanta got him for six runs in five innings as the Braves hit him early and often. Ozzie Albies got Atlanta on the board with a sacrifice fly and then Austin Riley continued his productive weekend with an RBI double that gave Atlanta a quick two-run lead in the first inning. Mauricio Dubón actually got credit for stealing home in the third inning, though it was less of him being like Jackie Robinson and more of Pirates catcher Endy Rodríguez essentially giving the Braves a run on a terrible throw attempt to second while trying to catch Ozzie Albies stealing. Atlanta was up 3-0 and life was good.
Life got less good once Spencer Strider eventually gave up the only three runs that both he and the pitching staff would give up on this day. Strider gave up three doubles in the fourth inning that turned into two runs for the Pirates — though Ronald Acuña Jr. and Matt Olson combined for one fantastic relay play to get Oneil Cruz out at home in order to make sure that Tyler Callihan’s RBI double was worth just one run instead of two. Pittsburgh then tied the game in the fifth inning with a sacrifice fly from Brandon Lowe (who exited this game in scary fashion in the ninth inning after he fouled a ball off of his knee. Thankfully, he ended up being okay and played on Sunday) and just like that, the Braves were in need of some timeline hitting to get the game back under control.
Fortunately, it is extremely difficult to keep this Braves lineup quiet for long stretches and Braxton Ashcraft was unable to do so. A Ronald Acuña Jr. leadoff single followed by a one-out Matt Olson single and a double steal for the two of them eventually turned into Ozzie Albies putting Atlanta back in front with a sacrifice fly. That type of good ol’ fashioned baseball must have pleased the baseball gods because we got another Big Dominic Smith Moment right after Ozzie’s sacrifice fly. Smith hit a bullet out to left field that looked like it was hooking foul right up until it didn’t, as it stayed far and cleared the short fence in left for a two-run dinger that made it 6-3. The bullpen once again kept Pittsburgh’s offense quiet from that point forward and the Braves were able to celebrate their 18th series win in 21 attempts!
Sunday, June 7
Braves 3, Pirates 2
We’ve been here before. The Braves have had their chances to pull off a sweep only to trip up at the last hurdle. Shoot, we saw it earlier this week when the Blue Jays essentially received all the good fortune that had eluded them in the first two games doled out upon them in the final game. At first glance, this appeared to be more of the same for the Braves in sweep attempts as the Pirates led this one 2-0 after six innings. Bryce Elder did a bang-up job of throwing yet another six solid innings but Pittsburgh’s combination of Mason Montgomery as an opener and Bubba Chandler as the bulk guy seemed to be too much for the Braves on this day.
Alas, a hero ended up emerging from the dugout once the Braves had a golden chance to turn things around in the seventh inning. Michael Harris II had left Friday’s game in the ninth inning due to back tightness and sat out Saturday’s game as a result. We’ve been through this before with Money Mike as well, where he’s been banged up but was able to avoid an IL stint while also contributing off the bench despite his ailments. As such, he got called upon to pinch hit for Sandy León with the bases loaded and one out in this frame.
With all due respect to Sandy (who actually got a hit during this game!), the Braves needed some real firepower in this situation and Money Mike delivered. The second pitch Harris saw from reliever Evan Sisk got shot out to the wall in right field for a bases-clearing, three-RBI double that sent the fans in Cobb County on a wet and dreary day into delirium at the fact that Money Mike had cashed in another pinch-hit opportunity.
With Atlanta’s bullpen having been pushed to its limits in the first two games, we got an unusual-but-still-effective trio of relievers who came in to finish things off. Reynaldo López made sure that the Braves stayed within striking distance of the Pirates and then Tyler Kinley got out of a mini-jam in the eighth inning in order to ensure that the Braves went into the ninth with the lead. Didier Fuentes was tasked with protecting that lead and he ended up pulling it off with two strikeouts and a pop out. Fuentes picked up his first career save, the Braves picked up their first sweep since early-May (their third overall and their first home sweep as well) and made it 45 wins on the season so far. Not too shabby, eh?
There you have it! The Braves have finally swept someone at home and now that the Phillies have kept their resurgence going (and this following stat only brings me small solace that that particular development), two of Atlanta’s three sweeps this season have come against teams who are over .500. At this particular point in time, it doesn’t matter if a team is flying high or scraping the bottom of the barrel; the Braves are are going to give their opponents a bad time for at least two of those games.
12 runs in the first two games against the Pirates is pretty impressive, especially considering that Pittsburgh had Braxton Ashcraft going in the second game. In terms of fWAR, Ashcraft had been essentially running even with Paul Skenes and had been looking primed for a breakout season. That might still happen but at least the Braves were able to make sure that they served as a very nasty speed bump for Ashcraft to navigate over the course of his potential breakout season. Atlanta’s pitching staff also came up pretty big and a special shoutout goes to the bullpen for making sure that Pittsburgh had a tough time in the latter stages of these games. The Braves’ bullpen has been very effective over the course of this season and this may have been one of their finest hours, yet.
While I think we were all hoping to see Ronald Acuña Jr. keep up his performance after he went off in Boston and Cleveland, I’m sure that we’re all pleased with seeing guys like Mauricio Dubón and Dominic Smith continue to come up big when they’re asked to do so. Money Mike also proved that he’s got an incredible knack for coming up big in pinch-hitting situations (and it was huge that he’s avoided another IL stint, to boot). It’s those type of performances that have allowed the Braves to not just succeed this season but to thrive. YOu never know who’s going to be the hero on most nights, which is a great place to be since that means that this team is getting positive production from everybody on the roster. Even Sandy León is contributing to the cause with his reliable defense behind the plate and his own knack for nailing ABS challenges.
In summation, the Braves continue to make sure that they’re in a lovely place at the moment. The White Sox will surely provide a serious challenge in Atlanta’s next series and while the Mets may be in last place, New York always tends to make things tough for the Braves so this next week will provide its own set of unique challenges. With that being said, this is some type of run that the Braves are on and it’s tough to envision it ending any time soon.
