Atlanta Braves Morning Chop: Dansby just doesn’t cut it… as predicted
Is it the schedule? is it the opponents? Was it the Blue Jays? Whatever the reason, the Braves are actually putting together a nice little run.
After a sweep of the Padres on April 17, the Atlanta Braves celebrated the opening of SunTrust Park by finally reaching the .500 mark at 6-6.
However, after the 10th of May, the Braves had a pair of losing sets in the books against the Cardinals and Houston. They were 11-20.
Then Miami happened. 2 out of 3.
Then Toronto happened (in spades). 3 out of 4.
Then Washington happened. 2 out of 3.
Now after last night’s take-down of the Pirates‘ young gun Gerrit Cole (raising his ERA by over half a run), the Braves are now at 19-23 and within site of that steel barrier… the .500 mark.
It won’t be easy from here. Three more against Pittsburgh, then a trip out West to San Francisco – and California has been a state of despair for Atlanta in recent years.
But Pittsburgh has still won 6 of their last 10 contests and the Braves took them down a notch. The Blue Jays had been on their first significant winning streak of the year before the Braves rolled into Canada.
Swanson the Swami
Credit to Dave O’Brien, who had the scoop of the year:
"“When we were warming up before the game I [Ender Inciarte] told [Dansby Swanson], hey man, if I get five hits today can you get a haircut?” Inciarte said, smiling. “And he said, ‘No.’And I said, you’re not going to get the haircut? It’s five hits. That’s hard to do. And he goes, ‘No, I’m not going to do it, because you’re going to get five.’ Then I told Rio (Ruiz, rookie third baseman) and Rio said yes."
So Inciarte goes 5-for-5 – for the first time ever – and now there’s at least one rookie who hairline will be exploited.
Meanwhile… Dansby: could you predict the next Georgia lottery numbers for me?
More of the Future
The Giants – winners in 8 of their last 10 – could suffer the same fate as these prior opponents if the pitching continues the groove that it’s in. All of the starters – save for Julio Teheran at home – seem to have found the cure for whatever ailed them.
Teheran, for his part, will get an extra day off as the coaching staff has chosen to put the knuckleballer Dickey in between Folty and Teheran. Whether that ultimately helps Julio overcome his home hiccups remains to be seen, but on paper it appears to be a good plan.
But even without Freddie Freeman‘s bat, the rest of the team is picking it up and prospering, and we like it.
Here’s your box:
| Batting | AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO | PA | BA | OBP | SLG | OPS | Pit | Str | WPA | Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ender Inciarte CF | 5 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5 | .279 | .327 | .404 | .731 | 24 | 17 | 0.161 | |
| Brandon Phillips 2B | 4 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5 | .296 | .354 | .430 | .783 | 25 | 14 | 0.191 | HR |
| Nick Markakis RF | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | .293 | .364 | .378 | .742 | 16 | 13 | -0.041 | |
| Matt Kemp LF | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | .341 | .378 | .615 | .992 | 13 | 9 | -0.121 | GDP |
| Matt Adams 1B | 4 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | .286 | .328 | .429 | .756 | 18 | 12 | 0.109 | HR |
| Tyler Flowers C | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | .360 | .476 | .465 | .941 | 17 | 9 | 0.088 | |
| Rio Ruiz 3B | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | .250 | .400 | .500 | .900 | 13 | 6 | -0.019 | HBP,GDP |
| Dansby Swanson SS | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | .208 | .290 | .322 | .612 | 14 | 10 | -0.009 | 2B |
| Mike Foltynewicz P | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 | 5 | 5 | -0.117 | |
| Jason Motte P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.000 | |||||||
| Emilio Bonifacio PH | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .156 | .176 | .250 | .426 | 4 | 3 | -0.007 | |
| Jose Ramirez P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.000 | |||||||
| Arodys Vizcaino P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.000 | |||||||
| Danny Santana PH | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .119 | .159 | .214 | .373 | 3 | 2 | -0.003 | |
| Jim Johnson P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.000 | |||||||
| Team Totals | 35 | 5 | 13 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 39 | .371 | .436 | .571 | 1.007 | 152 | 100 | 0.232 |
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
| Pitching | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | ERA | BF | Pit | Str | GB | FB | LD | GSc | IR | WPA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mike Foltynewicz, W (3-4) | 5 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 3.86 | 24 | 103 | 66 | 7 | 10 | 7 | 48 | -0.036 | |
| Jason Motte, H (2) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1.59 | 3 | 19 | 11 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0.187 | |
| Jose Ramirez, H (7) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.31 | 3 | 10 | 7 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0.045 | |
| Arodys Vizcaino, H (8) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2.45 | 4 | 17 | 11 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.041 | |
| Jim Johnson, S (9) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2.84 | 4 | 16 | 10 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.032 | |
| Team Totals | 9 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 8 | 0 | 1.00 | 38 | 165 | 105 | 12 | 14 | 7 | 48 | 2 | 0.269 |
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Next: Full Game Recap from 5-2 Victory
TONIGHT: Tyler Glasnow (2-3, 7.34) vs. R.A. Dickey (3-3, 4.13). 7:35pm EDT at STP. Glasnow has only faced Matt Adams and Brandon Phillips in the braves lineup (1-6, Phillips getting a double).
He gave up 7 earned vs. Arizona on the 12th and 4 (2 earned) against Washington on the 18th. Getting to him early may be better as the Pirates’ bullpen isn’t that bad.