The Braves were licking their wounds a bit after a tough series against the Dodgers. This series changed the vibes and in a good way.
Following a tough series against the Dodgers that saw the Atlanta Braves essentially have to scratch and claw in order to hold on to a series-salvaging win, the Braves had to deal with a Reds team for the next four games if they wanted to have any chance to make sure that this homestand ended up being a successful one.
Fortunately for the Braves, it ended up being just that. Four games later, the Braves have taken three out of four games against Cincinnati and just like that, they’re on a run where they’ve won four of their last five and are now about to hop on the road to take on a Pirates team that’s running so poorly that they just fired their manager and are looking for a bump from that.
Enough about the future, though — let’s talk some more about the series that just transpired.
Monday, May 5
Braves 4, Reds 0
AJ Smith-Shawver was nearly untouchable in this one, as he ended up making it through eight innings while only giving up one hit, much less any runs. While it wasn’t the prettiest individual performance from Smith-Shawver (one that saw him walk four batters and the defense routinely bailed him out with some great plays), it was still one that was more than effective enough for Atlanta to capitalize upon.
The third inning ended up being the big one in this game, as the Braves put four runs on the plate which brought us to our eventual final score of 4-0. The final two runs were scored on an inside-the-park dinger from Matt Olson — though the circumstances were certainly sad and unfortunate as rookie Tyler Callihan broke his arm while sliding into the wall and trying to catch Olson’s liner.
Tuesday, May 6
Braves 2, Reds 1
This was Atlanta’s first walk-off win in extras of this series, as the Braves couldn’t figure out Andrew Abbott while he was out there and the Reds were bedeviled by Chris Sale while he was out there. As such, we didn’t see any runs put on the board until the eighth inning — that’s when Santiago Espinal brought in Elly De La Cruz for the first run of the game.
The Braves didn’t make anything happen in their usual appointed time during the eighth inning. That’s because they waited until the ninth inning to get something going. Michael Harris II delivered the massive tying RBI single in the ninth inning that extended the game and then after a dominant tenth inning from Raisel Iglesias on the mound, Marcell Ozuna won it in the bottom of the tenth as his walk-off ensured that Atlanta would at least be in a possession of a split once they left town on Thursday night.
Wednesday, May 7
Reds 4, Braves 3
The Braves are now 0-2 in games where they have a shot to reach .500. This was their second crack at it after they opened up the homestand with an attempt to make it there and blew it against the Dodgers. This time, Grant Holmes got tormented by TJ Friedl, whose two homers in his first two at-bats helped push the Reds out to a 4-0 lead in this one.
The latter half of this game saw the Braves attempt to pull off the comeback. It started with a homer from Drake Baldwin and eventually it came down to the ninth inning where Michael Harris II was the potential tying run with the potential go-ahead run at the plate being Eddie Rosario (?) pinch-hitting (???) in a two-out, ninth-inning situation (????????). As you can imagine in 2025, this didn’t end well and the Braves had to settle for a one-run loss in this one.
Thursday, May 8
Braves 5, Reds 4
For the second time in this series, the Braves pulled off a dramatic win in extra innings. This time, the hero was Drake Baldwin. The rookie catcher hit a bullet that got past Cincinnati’s defense on the left side of the infield in order to ensure that the Braves would be hopping on the airplane happy and excited following another walk-off win at home.
Atlanta wouldn’t have been in that position in the first place if not for the effort of Scott Blewett. Blewett entered the game in extra innings and pitched two perfect frames in order to keep the Reds quiet at the most crucial point of the contest. They wouldn’t have gotten that far if not for another dramatic ninth-inning hit from Michael Harris II plating pinch-runner Eddie Rosario (now that’s more like it) to tie the game at four runs apiece. All-in-all, it’s another example of how even in their current state, you still have to fight for all 27 (or more) outs against this Braves team.
With the Braves currently in search of reaching the promised land of .500, this was a pretty huge series win to have for Atlanta. So far, Atlanta has done a pretty solid job winning games at home, as they’ll be heading on the road with a 12-6 record under their belts. The only real major slip-up they’ve had at home so far this season was dropping two-out-of-three to the Dodgers and even still, they proceeded to make up for it by taking three-out-of-four against a decent-enough Reds team.
What made this series even more impressive was the late nature of some of the wins. While I think we’d all prefer to see the Braves return to the days of dumptrucking their opponents early on, it still says something about the character of the team that they’re able to pull off so many of these dramatic come-from-behind victories. Simply rolling over has rarely been in this team’s DNA over the years and that appears to be the case here in 2025. They’re a resilient bunch and they’ll fight to the end.
After a solid homestand, Atlanta will now travel to Pittsburgh to face a Pirates club that’ll be looking for a post-managerial change bump. They’ve been playing some rough baseball and we’d probably be talking about them if not for the Rockies having one of the worst starts to a season so far. However, the Braves will still have to go up there and take care of business in Pittsburgh and hopefully the confidence they’ve gained from this series win over the Reds will help to buoy them on the banks of the Allegheny.