Braves went into Houston with a rookie starter and took the first game of their 3-game series.
Darius Vines made a good impression with his first start of 2024, while the offense showed up late and the bullpen held things down in the Braves 6-2 win over Houston.
The Braves are still trying to get their rotation reset after losing Spencer Strider to season-ending elbow surgery over the weekend. Next up to audition for a starting spot was Vines tonight in Houston. And he showed this audition probably needs to be more than just one start.
It started a little shaky, if we’re being honest. Jose Altuve singled on the first pitch Vines threw and then Yordan Alvarez hit a rocket up the middle. Luckily for Vines, his shortstop was standing right where Alvarez hit it and turned it into a double play. Vines then allowed a 2 out walk, a stolen base, an RBI single, and another walk to the next three hitters, going down 1-0 in the first. And all of it came with shaky command of basically all of his pitches. Vines got a fly out to center to end the first and was fortunate the damage was limited to one run.
The offense immediately picked him up in the second inning, however, after Travis d’Arnaud roped a 2-out double down the left field line and Jarred Kelenic followed with a walk. Luis Guillorme then rolled a ball up the middle that Houston shortstop Jeremey Peńa was able to get to but made an errant throw to first that got by Jose Abreu. d’Arnaud never stopped running from second and scored the tying run. Ronald Acuńa Jr followed with a walk to load the bases and Ozzie Albies was hit by a pitch to bring in the second run of the inning and give the Braves a 2-1 lead.
From that point until the 9th inning, there wasn’t much in the way of offense from either team. Vines settled in and threw a scoreless 2nd inning, a scoreless 3rd inning and a scoreless 4th, allowing just one single over those three frames. He got the first two outs of the 5th inning before surrendering a 2-out single to Altuve. With Alvarez coming up, manager Brian Snitker preferred LH Aaron Bummer to handle that spot and Vines’ evening was done with an impressive 4 2⁄3 innings pitched and just 1 run allowed.
Bummer was able to retire Alvarez to end the 5th and stayed in to get Kyle Tucker for the first out of the 6th. Pierce Johnson came in to get the last two outs and retired the first two hitters in the 7th before giving up back-to-backs singles to Dubon and Altuve, and once again Yordan Alvarez was coming to plate with traffic on the bases. This time Snitker turned to AJ Minter to get the last out of a threat and he induced a weak pop up to end the inning. Minter stayed in for the 8th and completed a 1-2-3 inning.
Offensively, there were only a few moments where the Braves even had a threat. Austin Riley had a 1-out double in the 5th but was stranded at second. Acuńa had a 1-out double in the 7th, but was stranded there as well.
That was until the 9th inning that is. Houston surprisingly brought in their closer Josh Hader despite losing 2-1 and he had a rough night. The 9th inning for the Braves went Duvall walk, wild pitch, Arcia single, Acuńa single, Albies single, Riley single, strikeout, Ozuna single, and Harris RBI groundout.
Orlando off the bench! #BravesCountry pic.twitter.com/BfSRnGW6bX
— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) April 16, 2024
Austin adds on!@austinriley1308 | #BravesCountry pic.twitter.com/4jOWv5ISUo
— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) April 16, 2024
All toll Atlanta scored 4 runs and turned a 2-1 game into a 6-1 game. And not only did Houston use up their closer, maybe for the rest of the series, but all the extra runs allowed Atlanta to use Jesse Chavez to close out the bottom of the 9th and save Raisel Iglesias.
Atlanta improves to 10-5 on the year while Houston drops to 6-12. The series continues tomorrow night in Houston with Reynaldo Lopez facing off against Hunter Brown, with first-pitch at 7:10 local time.