A sweep sure would’ve been grand but instead the Braves have to settle for two wins against a very bad team.
It’s a bit rare to be experiencing melancholy after a series win but that’s where the Atlanta Braves are at. Atlanta has now won two straight series but this was a series where a sweep would’ve actually felt attainable. The Rockies are on track to be historically bad and considering the hole that the Braves have fallen back into, they need as many wins as they can get and a sweep would’ve been grand — even if three wins wouldn’t have done much to erase the poor performance that has gotten the Braves to this current point.
Still, while the Braves failed to pull off the sweep and got embarrassed in the final game of the series, there was still a lot of good stuff on display from Atlanta over the course of these three games. Atlanta’s pitching staff is still having its share of ups and downs but one thing was for certain: The starting pitching was getting it done. It was up to the bullpen and the lineup to ensure that a complete team performance could eventually lead to a win and, well, two out of three ain’t bad, right? Let’s talk about this series, y’all.
Friday, June 13
Braves 12, Rockies 4
If you miss the good ol’ days of the Braves launching dingers and scoring a plethora of runs against an overmatched opponent, then this was a beautiful game to witness. It took a while for Atlanta’s offense to get going in this one, as Germán Márquez actually did a good job of keeping the opposition off of the scoreboard for one. The Braves only scored one run off of Márquez over the five innings that he was out there and the Rockies were actually up 4-1 once Márquez left the game.
Márquez’s departure was the turning point, as the Braves proceeded to wake up and go on a furious run of offense over the sixth, seventh and eighth innings. Michael Harris II hit a three-run homer to tie the game in the sixth, Marcell Ozuna hit a three-run dinger of his own to push the Braves ahead in the seventh and then sacrifice flies from Ozuna and Nick Allen and an RBI single from Matt Olson that plated three more in the eighth inning brought us to the eventual final tally of 12 runs on the night for the Braves. The lineup eventually blew the Rockies out of the water and it was fun to watch, for once!
Saturday, June 14
Braves 4, Rockies 1
The Braves locked up their second series win in a row in comfortable fashion in this one, as Spencer Strider was absolutely locked in for this one. Strider made it through six innings for the second straight start but this performance was much, much better than his last outing back on June 8. Strider only gave up three hits and one walk while striking out a whopping 13 batters. Yeah, this is the Rockies we’re talking about but this was the version of Spencer Strider that we’ve gotten used to seeing over the years. Hopefully he sticks around for a good long while. The bullpen tacked on six strikeouts as well, as the Braves finished the day with a grand total of 19 punch-outs for the day. Whew!
Meanwhhile, the Braves jumped on Colorado early in order to take control of this one. Matt Olson hit an RBI single in the first inning and then Ronald Acuña Jr. crushed a two-run shot in the second inning to push the Braves out to a 3-0 lead. Austin Riley’s RBI single in the fifth inning made it 4-0 and the Rockies scored in the ninth inning only to make the scoreline look slightly better than a shutout win for the Braves.
Sunday, June 15
Rockies 10, Braves 1
For six innings, this was an intense pitchers’ duel between Grant Holmes and Austin Gomber, with Gomber in particular essentially mowing down Atlanta’s lineup while he was out there. Holmes racked up a ton of strikeouts while he was out there but his two mistakes meant that he left the game with the Braves trailing 2-1.
It got substantially worse the second Atlanta’s bullpen entered the game and essentially capitulated to the worst offense in baseball. Six runs in the seventh inning and three runs in the eighth inning turned this from a close game to a laugher and as a result, the Braves fumbled their chance to sweep the Rockies and did so in shockingly calamitous fashion.
Depressing ending aside, the Braves at least took care of business by making sure that they pulled off the bare minimum of winning the series over the Rockies. It would’ve been absolutely nightmarish if this team dropped a series against the Rockies and it was certainly possible given that the 2024 Braves lost two-out-of-three to the 2024 White Sox. These types of games aren’t “gimmes” — the Rockies are still a major league baseball team and they’re going to win games here or there.
With that being said, that loss the Braves did suffer to the Rockies was a nasty one. That was just the second time that the Rockies have scored double-digits in a game away from Coors Field and the other one took place on May 17 in a 14-12 win over the Diamondbacks at Chase Field, which has the third-highest Park Factor in all of baseball. That was truly a meltdown on Atlanta’s part but hey, we can at least choose to focus on the fact that the Braves picked up the series win. Friday’s win was “Vintage Braves” in that they returned to their tried-and-true strategy of simply hitting three-run homers and Saturday saw Spencer Strider return to form. There was good stuff on display this wekeend!
As a result, the Braves are now heading into this run within the division off the strength of a decent run against the Brewers and the Rockies. The competition will get a lot more fierce over the next two weeks but for now, the Braves can at least begin this stretch knowing that they have at least put a pause to the tailspin. Hopefully it won’t continue but if the Braves are going to get going, this will have to be the push that gets the ball rolling.