The Braves’ young star starter put together a brilliant start against Boston and the offense backed him up sufficiently for a complete team 5-0 win
In dire need of a win (really many of them, but it starts with one), the Braves were hoping Spencer Schwellenbach could deliver a gem to prop up the struggling offense.
Things started nicely, as Schwellenbach worked a 1-2-3 first and the offense got to work, with singles from Acuna and Baldwin to start out the game. Ozuna grounded into a double play, but a well-hit Olson double brought Ronald home for the first run of the game.
Olson now has 14 extra-base hits (6 doubles and 8 HRs) in May. Riley (8) and Ozuna (7) have combined for 15 extra-base hits this month. pic.twitter.com/3l6Gawgzah
— Mark Bowman (@mlbbowman) May 31, 2025
Schwellenbach cruised through the remainder of the first time through the Boston order, striking out five and facing the minimum. His first hit allowed came in the fourth, off a fastball that caught too much of the plate for a hard-hit single, followed by another single, but struck out Mayer to end the inning. Austin Riley hit a would-be homer a couple feet to the left of the left field foul pole, before hitting a wall-scraper of an actual solo homer to left center, tacking another run on for a 2-0 Atlanta lead. The Braves’ offense didn’t stop there, as Ozzie walked and then was hit by a wild pick-off attempt, granting him second base. Michael Harris was able to bring him home on a one out single and after Luke Williams popped up for the second out, Ronald Acuna launched a no-doubter to straightaway center for a two-run homer, giving the Braves a strong 5-0 lead.
Ronald Acuña Jr. now has 3 home runs since his return
La Bestia is BACK pic.twitter.com/QuWbfVGKYk
— MLB (@MLB) May 31, 2025
Spencer allowed a couple of soft singles in the top of the fifth, but ultimately worked a scoreless frame with another two strikeouts. The Braves’ offense was unable to capitalize on a few baserunners in the fifth and sixth, while Schwellenbach struck out three more across the sixth and seventh, exiting with a man on first and one out in the seventh. That’s another fantastic outing from Spencer, as he has seemingly levelled up the last two starts, now striking out 11 in back to back outings. 6.1 innings of scoreless baseball with 11 Ks and no walks is simply a brilliant outing by any metric.
Dylan Lee got the eighth, working his second straight day with a 5-0 lead, which I at least raised an eyebrow at, but he did his job and Montero worked a 1-2-3 ninth to finish the game off.
Join us again for the rubber match tomorrow at 1:35 PM ET in Atlanta.