As long as baseball continues to be played at altitude in Coors Field, there will be the potential for a whole bushel of runs to be scored in any given game. With the Atlanta Braves running as hot as they have to start this season, there was plenty of potential for the Braves to put in some serious work at the plate.
Even with the Rockies sending some decent starting pitching to the mound for this series, it was clear that they’d have a pretty big task on their hands to keep this Braves team quiet.
As it turned out, there wasn’t much that Colorado’s pitching staff could do to stop Atlanta during this series as the Braves did a bunch of hitting early and often. How much damage did they end up doing? Let’s go into detail!
Friday, May 1
Braves 8, Rockies 6
This one got off to an extremely poor start for Grant Holmes and the Braves, as the Rockies lit him up for five runs in the first inning and then added on another one in the second via a solo homer from Mickey Moniak to make it a 6-0 lead. That’s how it stayed through three innings as the Braves were forced to dig themselves out of a hole from the middle innings onward. Fortunately, Holmes ended up staying out there for five innings and was able to successfully pass the baton to Anthony Molina, Didier Fuentes and eventually, Robert Suarez.
Now, how on Earth did Robert Suarez end up getting involved? That’s because Holmes calming down and the bullpen clamping down ended up being crucial as the Braves started to claw their way back. Matt Olson got the Braves on the board with a solo homer in the fourth and then it all came unraveled for Colorado once Jose Quintana exited the game following the sixth inning. A productive out from Jonah Heim cut the deficit to four runs in the seventh and then the eighth was when Atlanta delivered the haymaker.
The top of the order managed to load up the bases with one out, which set the stage for Mauricio Dubón to continue his surprisingly-good start to the season at the plate with a big hit here. He didn’t hit it out but he hit it to the wall and in an outfield as big and expansive as Coors Field, that’s massive trouble. Dubón’s triple cleared the bases to tie the game and then he scored on a sacrifice fly from Ozzie Albies to tie it up in Atlanta.
The ninth inning rolled around and Michael Harris II was called upon for pinch-hitting duty after Jonah Heim led off the frame with a walk. Sure enough, Money Mike was able to deliver another big hit off of the bench as he crushed one into the seats in right field to give the Braves-partisan crowd in Denver something to roar about. That’s how Robert Suarez ended up getting involved and making his fourth save of the season in order to complete a fantastic comeback win for the Braves.
Saturday, May 2
Braves 9, Rockies 1
This one was a bit more straight-forward for the Braves as they ended up rolling to a wire-to-wire beatdown of the Rockies in this one. Drake Baldwin crushed a dinger in the first inning and that was the first of three dingers for Atlanta in this one — and the first two RBI of four on the day for Baldwin. Austin Riley got some frustration out in the fifth inning with a two-run shot that made it 8-1 and then Matt Olson demolished a no-doubter in the ninth inning that brought us to our final score.
While this was all going on, Chris Sale put in another great evening of work on the mound. Sale went seven innings while only giving up one run on three hits and three walks. He also struck out11 batters in the process. Pitching in this series wasn’t easy for anybody so it was very impressive to see Sale go out there and continue to be dominant despite the extremely hitter-friendly environment tripping up other pitchers over the course of this series. Sale’s strong effort meant that the Braves only needed to turn to Dylan Lee and Hunter Stratton to close things out from the bullpen.
The only real blemish in this game for the Braves (outside of missing out on a rare Coors Field shutout win thanks to an RBI double from Jordan Beck) was that Ronald Acuña Jr. strained his left hamstring and ended up having to go on the 10-day IL as a result. The obvious hope is that it’ll be closer to 10 days on the shelf for Acuña rather than anything longer than that but it’s still a bummer to see that the injury bug has once again continued to pester the Braves.
Sunday, May 3
Braves 11, Rockies 6
The initial story heading into this game was Spencer Strider’s 2026 regular season debut. This was always going to be a tricky way to start the season for Strider and sure enough, that was the case. He only made it through 3.1 innings and while he did strike out six batters, he walked five and conceded four hits on his way to giving up three runs during his time out there. It also didn’t help matters that Aaron Bummer came in and got knocked around for two runs while he recorded an inning’s worth of outs.
Fortunately, it helped that the Rockies continued to provide little-to-no resistance to Atlanta’s lineup. In fact, this game was all about Jonah Heim, of all people. Heim went into this game with just three RBI to his name over the course of 11 games played. He now has eight, after he pushed five runs across the plate with his bat. Heim picked a great day to collect five RBI (his most in a single game since September 11, 2023 against the Blue Jays) since you can see what the score ended up being. Heim’s breakout ended up making a big difference as his efforts at the plate pushed the Braves to their second sweep so far this season — both on the road, no less!
With the series win, the BravesVision broadcast pointed out that the Braves are now off to their best 35-game start since 1892. Yes, you read that correctly: THE YEAR OF OUR LORD EIGHTEEN-HUNDRED-AND-NINETY-TWO. That is wild and this stat from Sarah Langs of MLB.com with the added contest of the top five 35-game starts makes it even wilder.
What do all of those other starts have in common? They’re all in the 1800s! This is the best start that any of us currently living have ever seen from the Braves over this many games. Getting this deep into the season with this many wins banked is absolutely vital. They could slow down eventually but even if there is a downturn in form, as long as there isn’t a major slump then the Braves are going to be right in the thick of it as far as Postseason contention for the whole season.
The performance at Coors Field was impressive as well. Now granted, the Rockies are the Rockies (which is to say they don’t figure to be great this season) but they also still have to be taken seriously in their home stadium. It’s a venue that can bring up any type of result at any given moment and one where offense is expected but also not a given. If you don’t believe me then take a look at last year’s series for the Braves in Colorado, which is one that they managed to win while scoring only 15 runs (including a game where they only scored one run) and hitting zero home runs. This time, they scored 28 runs and cracked seven dingers. The offense is clearly in a much better place right now than last season and that’s been the engine that has powered the Braves to their lofty spot in the standings so far.
The Braves will now look to continue taking care of business as they will continue their trip out West with a visit to Cascadia to face off with the Mariners. Seattle has gotten off to a mediocre start so far and Atlanta will have to rely on the bottom of the rotation to continue getting the job done. With that being said, we’ve gotten to the point now where the Braves have to like their chances whenever this current version of Bryce Elder takes the mound and JR Ritchie has been encouraging as well. Grant Holmes will need a turnaround performance and hopefully the pitcher-friendly environment of T-Mobile Park will provide that opportunity for Holmes. It’ll be tricky (there’s that word again) but with the way the Braves have been playing so far in 2026, it’s more-than-possible that they can keep this going in Seattle with another series win. We’ll see what happens!
