The homestand was a mixed bag for the Braves, but they were able to end it on a good note.
The Atlanta Braves salvaged a 3-4 homestand by securing a series win over the Oakland Athletics with a 3-1 win on Sunday. The Braves began their homestand by dropping three of four to the Nationals. Atlanta is 33-24 for the season and are seven games back of the Philadelphia Phillies, who will face the Cardinals Sunday night.
Sunday’s win boosted the Braves’ record against the Athletics to 18-7 since interleague play began in 1997. They are 10-4 all-time against Oakland in Atlanta and had won seven straight before Saturday’s loss.
Former Athletics do damage
Matt Olson gave the Braves an early lead with a run-scoring single in the first inning of Sunday’s rubber game. He drove in a run in all three games in the series and is hitting .291/.333/.600 with four homers, five doubles and a 158 wRC+ since May 20. That span has seen a bit of normalization for Olson’s line despite a middling xwOBA — he had a .317 wOBA on a .371 xwOBA through May 19, and has a .395 wOBA on a .336 xwOBA since.
Sean Murphy had a go-ahead RBI double in the seventh inning of Sunday’s game as he blooped one in just inside the line in right that somehow wasn’t caught by any of the three fielders converging on it. Murphy is 2-for-13 since returning from the 10-day Injured List after missing 49 games with a strained oblique muscle and needs to stop hitting the ball into the ground, but since the entire team did so for about three weeks, it’s not surprising that he’s still figuring things out after the long layoff.
Marcell Ozuna extends on-base streak and continues to rake
Marcell Ozuna reached base twice in Sunday’s win and has reached base in 26 straight games. That is the second-longest streak of his career. He had a 36-game on-base streak in 2016 while with the Marlins. Aaron Judge and Anthony Volpe are the only two players with an active on-base streak longer than Ozuna’s.
The Braves’ DH leads the NL with 53 RBI. His 53 RBI entering Sunday were the most by a Braves player through their first 56 games since Ozuna himself managed it in 2020. Hank Aaron had 53 RBI in his first 56 games back in 1959.
After a walk and a double on Sunday, Ozuna’s wRC+ is up to 179 on the year. Ozuna, Jarred Kelenic, and Chadwick Tromp are the only Braves that have gotten hits on more than 60 percent of their barrels; Ozuna and Adam Duvall lead the team with homers on half of their barrels, and no other player is above 36 percent. (League average homer/barrel is about 45 percent right now, down from 50 percent last year).
First-inning offense
One of the staples of the 2023 Braves’ offense was scoring early and often. The 2023 Braves led the majors with a franchise-record 146 first inning runs. Atlanta scored in the first inning in all three games against Oakland. Prior to the series, they failed to score in the first inning in 10 consecutive games. That was their longest stretch without a first inning run since a 12-game stretch in 2022.
Braves handling American League competition
Sunday’s win pushed the Braves record in 2024 interleague play to 13-6. Their .684 winning percentage is the third-best in the majors behind the Phillies (.818) and Yankees (.714). They will face two more American League opponents on their next road trip. Atlanta will take on the Red Sox in a two-game series at Fenway Park starting Tuesday. Then after a four-game series in Washington, they will close out the trip with a three-game set in Baltimore against the Orioles.