One lovely win sandwiched by two absolutely miserable losses. This feels familiar!
To kick off this nine-game homestand, the Atlanta Braves sandwiched a satisfying victory over the Philadelphia Phillies in-between two absolutely miserable losses. It was an annoying series to watch but hey, at least the Braves didn’t get swept and they’d also get a chance to get a real foothold in their homestand with the Angels coming to town.
Sadly, we didn’t get the reunion with Ron Washington that many fans anticipated when they saw that the Angels were coming to town soon. We did get to see Travis d’Arnaud and Jorge Soler again, with this being d’Arnaud’s first time returning to Atlanta since the Braves declined his option shortly after last season. The Braves aren’t really in a position to be looking down on other teams but with an Angels team coming into Cobb County that was actually fortunate to only be a game under .500, this felt like an opportunity for the Braves to take a series for once.
Instead, it feels like we got a repeat of the Phillies series — right down to the other team’s colors being primarily red-and-white. The Braves liked the miserable sandwich from the Phillies series so much that they decided to order a double-portion of it for this series against the Angels. Let’s get into it.
Tuesday, July 1
Angels 4, Braves 0
Grant Holmes and Tyler Anderson went toe-to-toe with each other on the mound, as both hurlers left the game with the score still 0-0 once they were done. That’s not to say that both teams didn’t have their chances — Austin Riley was left stranded in scoring position in the first inning and Michael Harris II’s leadoff triple in the fifth inning was wasted as the only baserunner to join him on the basepaths was Matt Olson after an intentional walk.
Dylan Lee entered the game for the eighth inning and Mike Trout did a Mike Trout thing by going down low to swing at a ball, put it into the outfield and then stretch it into a hustle double. There would be no Tungsten Arm O’Doyle moment for Trout this time, as his efforts actually sparked a rally. Once the smoke cleared, the Angels had a four-run inning and Atlanta’s lineup remained quiet for the rest of the game. This was the fifth shutout of the season for the Angels and the seventh time that the Braves have been shutout this season. Somehow it feels like more than that.
Wednesday, July 2
Braves 8, Angels 3
Once the sixth inning of this game had rolled around, the Braves were in the midst of yet another extended scoreless streak. 21 innings had come and gone since the last time the Braves had scored any runs and by this point in the game, they were down 2-0 to the Angels after Jo Adell got their game started on the right track by plating two runs with an RBI single.
Atlanta broke their scoreless drought in grand fashion, however. With two men on and two out in the sixth, Ryan Zeferjahn entered the game and immediately got ambushed by Sean Murphy, who crushed one into the seats to give the Braves their first runs of the series and their first lead in the blink of an eye. It only got better from there, as Atlanta loaded up the bases against Zeferjahn right after that. Matt Olson came up to the plate, got a heater he liked and turned on it for a Grand Slam. After going basically the entirety of the first half of the season without a Grand Slam, the Braves suddenly and inexplicably had two in less than a week.
Jurickson Profar made his return to the lineup in this one and he marked the occasion by hitting his first homer of the season in order to bring Atlanta’s tally to eight runs on the night. Jorge Soler hit a moonshot in the ninth inning to add another run for the Angels but the game finished at 8-3.
Thursday, July 4
Angels 5, Braves 1
There was nowhere to go but up for Bryce Elder after his calamitous start against the Phillies in his last outing and unfortunately, he didn’t fare too much better in this one. Elder was fortunate to get out of the first inning with just one run allowed but he made up for that by serving up his routine hanger to Nolan Schanuel in the second inning for a two-run shot that made it 3-0 Los Angeles. Elder then left another juicy meatball right in the middle of the zone for the Angels to feast upon in the fourth inning and the beneficiary this time was Zach Neto. Neto crushed it to make it 4-0 Angels and Elder’s day was done shortly after that.
A Taylor Ward RBI triple brought it to 5-0 and that’s where LA’s scoring would end for the night. This was another largely dormant night at the plate for the Braves, with the only tally being delivered with one out in the ninth inning. It was none other than Jurickson Profar once again, who added another home run to his tally in order to bring the Braves to the ever-so-slightly-more respectable final score of 5-1.
Well, the good news is that Jurickson Profar is back and he’s already got six hits and two home runs under his belt! That is already a lot better production than what the Braves had been getting from their left fielders so far this season. I’m not even exaggerating — Alex Verdugo’s most recent regular season home run was hit on September 26, 2024. Yes, welcome back Jurickson Profar and hopefully you stay healthy and produce a lot at the plate. The other good news is that they didn’t get swept and Matt Olson’s grand slam was a reminder that he is having himself a lowkey really good season. He’s already surpassed his fWAR production (2.8 so far this season) for all of 2024 (2.6) and considering the fact that he’s actually the fWAR leader among starting first basemen in all of baseball right now, I can actually see an All-Star appearance being in Olson’s future.
That’s all for the good news! This was essentially a carbon copy of what happened during the series with the Phillies. Braves pull a complete no-show in the first game, look like their old, dominant selves in the second game and then go out with a whimper in the third game in order to lose the series. There’s not too many other ways I can say that the Braves can’t keep going on like this and expect to be seeing Postseason baseball in their future. With their Postseason odds dwindling significantly with each passing day, time is running out and we’re getting to the point where the Trade Deadline is actually going to be incredibly interesting for the Braves in ways that we couldn’t have possibly anticipated during spring training.
They’ll be taking on an similarly-disappointing Orioles team this weekend before going on their pre-All-Star Week road trip and it would be nice to see the Braves figure out a way to end this homestand on a high note. For now, it just feels like the Braves are in Déjà vu mode at the moment.