Braves blast Rockies as AJ Smith-Shawver impresses

Smith-Shawver pitched well and the bats continued to hit against the lifeless Rockies.

The Atlanta Braves continued to impose their will against the Colorado Rockies on Tuesday night in front of a sparse crowd at Coors Field, winning for a second night in a row to claim another series victory, 8-2.

Atlanta is 14-15 and within a game of .500 after an 0-7 and 5-13 start.

AJ Smith-Shawver was the story of the game. Unfortunately, it was cut short in the sixth inning after he took a 105mph line drive off his right arm. Smith-Shawver seemed to be fine and was in good spirits in the dugout once he exited, but the Braves showed caution and took the rookie out of the game.

Before the injury, Smith-Shawver had only needed 59 pitches (46 of which were strikes!) to complete 5.1 innings. He was efficient, had his splitter working, and kept Colorado hitters guessing for most of the night. His lone blemish was a solo homer allowed in the second inning. As long as AJ doesn’t wake up with pain in his arm, look for the talented righty to remain in the rotation for the foreseeable future.

The Braves scored early, often, and regularly against German Marquez and the Rockies bullpen. Michael Harris drove in the first runs of the game with a two-run double in the second. Harris would extend the lead to 3-1 in the fourth with a bases loaded groundout that plated a runner.

One of the big swings in the middle innings came from Nick Allen. The Braves had loaded the bases with no outs earlier in the inning, but the aforementioned Harris groundout and Eli White strikeout had only scored one. Allen then lined an 0-2 pitch to right-center to bring in two more runs and extend the lead to 5-1.

No lead is ever safe in Coors Field, and the Braves did a good job building upon the lead. Ozzie Albies singled home a run in the fifth, Austin Riley singled home run a run in the sixth, and Riley would plate another in the eighth to make it 8-2. The offense is really clicking right now, even without the benefit of the home run ball once again in Colorado.

Everybody in the Atlanta lineup had a hit other than Marcell Ozuna, who had a rare 0/5 at the plate. The team only struck out twice. The Rockies are quite bad.

In relief of Smith-Shawver, Enyel De Los Santos did a nice job coming in cold out of the bullpen and worked 1.2 innings. Rafael Montero worked a clean eighth, and Scott Blewett worked the ninth.

The series concludes Wednesday afternoon with Chris Sale set to take the mound against Chase Dollander (1-3, 7.91 ERA), who has a claim to being the worst starter in the NL so far this season. Dollander throws a hard fastball, but it and his breaking pitches have gotten shelled in the early going.

As for Sale, the reigning Cy Young winner will try to build off his solid start against the Diamondbacks and hopefully continue to regain the command that has eluded him at times this year. Sale is yet to log six innings in a start this season; perhaps Wednesday is the day that changes. First pitch is set for 3:10 p.m. ET as the Braves go for the sweep.