The Braves avoided a sweep Sunday but may have lost another key player to injury.
The Atlanta Braves avoided a sweep Sunday with an 8-1 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates, completing a 3-3 road trip. The trip was a mixed bag that saw good performances from Max Fried and Chris Sale, but also saw more inconsistencies from the offense which often made frustrating to watch, especially considering that even when offense performed well, they didn’t exactly get rewarded for it. Still, a 3-3 trip is pretty much par for the course given that the Braves are now 11-11 in May.
Injuries aren’t helping
The mood from Sunday’s win was dampened by the loss of Ronald Acuña Jr., who left the game in the first inning after injuring his left knee. The Braves announced that Acuña was dealing with soreness, which was a painfully obvious understatement to anyone that watched the game or saw the video after the fact. Acuña will undergo additional testing and there likely won’t be an update until sometime Monday at the earliest.
Austin Riley missed his 14th straight game Sunday. He recently resumed hitting and took batting practice for the first time on Saturday. There has been no announcement on his return thus far, but it wouldn’t be surprising to see him return for Monday’s series opener against the Nationals.
Monday could also be the day that Sean Murphy returns to the lineup for the first time since Opening Day. Murphy served as the DH for Gwinnett Sunday. He has appeared in four games on his rehab assignment and is 5-for-14 at the plate with a double and two home runs.
Zack Short got most of the playing time Riley vacated at third base and has played pretty much as expected, with an 84 wRC+ in 43 PAs coming into Sunday’s win, a number that will again drop substantially after Short went 0-for-4 in that game. Chadwick Tromp has provided excellent defense, but his 71 wRC+ has also hurt a team not clicking on offense.
Chris Sale plays role of stopper
Chris Sale saw his consecutive scoreless innings streak end at 21 1/3 innings, but he still turned in a dominant outing and was just what the Braves needed to avoid a sweep. Sale allowed four hits and one run over seven innings Sunday. He added eight strikeouts and walked one while throwing 97 pitches.
The performance capped off a dominant month for Sale, who was charged with just two runs and had an absurd 45/2 K/BB ratio in May. Yes, you read that right: in 32 innings, Sale had as many walks as runs allowed for the month. Knock on wood, but Sale hasn’t started to break down yet despite logging seven innings in each of his last three starts.
Rare RISP-y woes
The Braves homered nine times on the trip including twice in Sunday’s game. However, they had a difficult time manufacturing runs on a consistent basis. Atlanta took two of three from the Cubs in Chicago but were 3-for-31 with runners in scoring position.
The Braves scored five runs in Friday’s opener against the Pirates, but all five of those runs came after they trailed 11-0. They fell on Saturday 4-1 before rallying for an 8-1 win Sunday. Atlanta was 6-for-21 with runners in scoring position and left 18 men on base over the three games in Pittsburgh.
While it may feel like this has been an on going problem since the start of the 2024 season, the Braves actually entered play Sunday eighth in the majors with a 119 wRC+ with runners in scoring position. That’s both higher than their 106 wRC+ on the season (which will go up after Sunday’s rout) and last year’s 117 wRC+ for the Braves in that situation.