The Braves survived going 0-for-3 on barrels and a shaky Bryce Elder start to walk off the Guardians in ten
Is it just me, or does it feel a little “April 2022” to anyone else? Namely, check out the latter half of 2021 heading into 2022, and then the latter half of 2023 heading into our current brave (not-so-Brave) new world of spring 2024:
Why am I talking about this in a recap of all things? Well, Sunday afternoon’s walk-off win over the Guardians happened in large part because of this phenomenon, with the strong wind blowing in from left field also likely playing a role. You see, in this game, the Braves hit three balls classified as “barrels” under the criteria most recently updated for the end of the 2023 season. Those balls are usually extra-base hits. Today, all three were harmless outs. More to the point, each of them would’ve given the Braves a lead, and likely obviated the need for extra innings. Instead, Austin Riley, who was denied one of those barrel-hits today, and who also had a potential walkoff homer denied in the same fashion last night, hit an 81 mph exit velocity flare into center field to end the game. The main difference between these goings-on and April 2022, to me, is that the Braves just keep winning, anyway.
A late rally and eventual walkoff flare aside, this game was fairly agonizing due to a variety of factors. For one, Bryce Elder had a very shaky outing and failed to follow up on the great stretch of starting pitching he kicked off with his 2024 debut to start the week. Elder’s final line featured a nasty (not in a good way) 2/4 K/BB ratio, and he also hit a batter. He also threw two wild pitches. Even worse, he clustered his poor pitching. The Guardians got their first run in the third as Elder issued back-to-back walks to the eight- and nine-hole hitters to start the frame. After a comebacker led to a force at second, Andres Gimenez also hit a comebacker, but this one smashed off Elder’s foot. Then, there was another walk, though Elder managed to Houdini his way out of it. First, Elder threw a nice sequence to strike out Josh Naylor. Then, Orlando Arcia made a barehanded play on a soft bouncer up the middle to keep it a one-run deficit.
In the fifth, with the Braves still trailing 1-0, a leadoff single became a kinda-sorta leadoff triple: Brayan Rocchio stole second on a ball that bounced away from catcher Chadwick Tromp, and then took third on a more routine wild pitch. Gimenez drew a one-out walk and took off for second; Tromp’s attempt to grab and fire a spiked pitch led to another ball that got away and allowed Rocchio to scamper across the plate. Elder stuck around one batter into the sixth (a three-pitch strikeout on three in-zone sliders, just his second punchout of the game) and then gave way to Aaron Bummer, who escaped the sixth but allowed a third Cleveland run (seeing-eye grounder, stolen base, donut hole flare) in the seventh.
Offensively, the Braves (and the drag and the wind and stuff) were stymied by Ben Lively and his arsenal. Ronald Acuña Jr. actually started the home half of the first with a barrel to center, but it didn’t go anywhere. The Braves then got two on, but Lively struck out Matt Olson via curve and got Ozuna to bounce out via middle-middle sinker. It’s hard to describe, but if you watched this game, you know: Lively basically threw feeble-on-paper fastballs over the heart of the plate with impunity; there’s something about what he’s doing that hitters just can’t really handle.
In the bottom of the fourth, Riley led off the inning with a lined single to right. Up came Olson, and he tried to punish Lively for his fastball-related insouciance — Lively grooved him a sinker on 2-0 that Olson fouled off, and then doubled down on it on 2-1. Olson absolutely smashed it, about 107 mph off the bat with 32 degrees of launch angle. Last year, of the 29 balls hit with those specs out to center field, 25 were homers. This one didn’t even make the warning track. I have no idea where these data come from, but the Braves broadcast later showed a graphic indicating that the ball would’ve cleared the center field fence if not for the wind, which just makes me wonder about the baseball (and the wind) all over again.
In any case, the Braves didn’t get on the board in the fourth, but the unlikely duo of Jarred Kelenic and Tromp combined for their first run in the fifth. Kelenic hit a hustle double on a ball that fell into the right-center gap, and Tromp followed with a weak flare to left. Cleveland went 18-and-out with Lively, putting Nick Sandlin into the game. It worked out pretty well for them, as Sandlin carved up Acuña and then, after plunking Albies, made Riley look absolutely horrible on a 3-2 splitter in the dirt — Riley had already eaten strike two by swinging at the same unhittable nonsense earlier in the at-bat.
The Braves didn’t do anything against Cade Smith in the sixth, and Scott Barlow, who escaped the bases loaded, none out situation last night, made the trio of Michael Harris II, Kelenic, and Tromp look awful in the seventh, as each of them struck out without putting up much of a fight. Tyler Matzek pitched a scoreless top of the eighth, and then the Braves staged a rally against Hunter Gaddis, the same guy they tied the game in the eighth against last night. First, Acuña smashed a 111 mph liner up the middle — perhaps an auspicious sign given that it came on a 96 mph fastball — and then made it all the way to third on an errant pickoff throw. Albies followed with a double into the right-center gap, which set up…
…Riley hitting another potentially game-winning barreled ball into the left-field corner, only for it to die on the track, again. The silliness continued as Olson blooped a sub-60 mph necrotic duck into center to tie the game. The Braves tried as they could to take the lead, as Ozuna hit it well for an out to right, and Arcia hit what could’ve been a double if not for some good defensive positioning by Steven Kwan in left field.
After a scoreless ninth by Raisel Iglesias that nonetheless included yet another infirm infield single, the Braves couldn’t walk it off in their first opportunity, as despite Travis d’Arnaud’s pinch-hit, two-out single, Tyler Beede benefited from an off-the-plate strike call that rung up Acuña.
So, onto extra innings, again. This time, it was A.J. Minter who reprised Dylan Lee’s excellent tenth from last night, albeit in weird fashion. After a flyout, Minter picked Kwan off trying to steal third. Then, after Jose Ramirez got on with a bloop to right, d’Arnaud threw him out trying to take second to end the inning. This was a really bizarre game on the bases, as the Guardians had three steals to four times caught stealing, while the Braves also had Harris picked off at one point.
So, onto the setup for Riley’s walkoff. There wasn’t much of it, really. Emmanuel Clase struck out Albies, but then Riley went and did this, which was better-rewarded than his barrels over the last few days:
FOR THE RI-LEAD!@austinriley1308 | #BravesCountry pic.twitter.com/Y4T5PhEGAD
— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) April 28, 2024
Now, the Braves head to Seattle, which is a tough hitting environment even without inconsistency in baseball manufacturing. It’ll also be tough for us, because the first two games start very late. Come join us as we desperately try to stay awake and/or not get fired from our jobs because we did stay awake.