Atlanta Braves Shutout Rays Backed by Acuña Jr. Homer
“…And a child shall lead them”. It was the youngsters that did the damage on Tuesday night as the Braves rebounded from a Giant awakening.
The Atlanta Braves came into Tampa to start their road trip coming off being swept for the first time this season in a three game series versus the Giants.
Sean Newcomb took the mound looking to build off his impressive performance against the Mets where he went 7.0 innings allowing 0 runs on 2 hits and 8 strikeouts.
Sean Newcomb: First Braves pitcher to throw 6+ innings of scoreless, 2-hit ball in consecutive outings since Greg Maddux, Jun 27 & Jul 2 1999 (both against Mets).
— Doug Kern (@dakern74) May 9, 2018
Newcomb has attributed his recent success to an improved changeup, which is getting batters off of his fastball.
It wasn’t all domination: 3 walks on the night led to a dicey situation in the 2nd inning, for example, but Newcomb was able to work out of the trouble thanks to a double play.
Acuña is a player
This game was a pitchers dual from the start with both starting pitchers dealing. However, the Braves were able to break through with this mammoth shot from Acuña Jr. in the 3rd.
https://twitter.com/MLB/status/994008655212134401
Okay. So this was Acuña’s 3rd big-league homer, and all three have either been in the upper-tank stands or (in this case) just missed the facing of the 2nd deck. The alleged distance was 434 feet, but there’s something else going on here that I don’t want you to miss.
I’m going to let Mark Bowman introduce the point, from his writeup of this game:
"When Snell got Acuna to chase a nasty 2-1 slider during that third-inning plate appearance, Braves hitting coach Kevin Seitzer knew the lefty would show it again. Instead of getting too anxious while looking for a fastball, Acuna stayed back and had little trouble barreling the solo shot that traveled a projected 434 feet and had a 108.5-mph exit velocity, per Statcast™."
So Acuña got schooled during AB, then made the adjustment. The pitch wasn’t terrible: it was the slider at 89 mph, and it broke to exactly the expected spot (note the position of the catcher in the video): bottom of the strike zone, slightly inside of the middle of the plate. It was a strike, and it was an attempt to get the batter to chase a breaking pitch.
You can kind of see Acuña recognizing the pitch and adjusting his timing as he prepared to swing. Regardless of the outcome, that’s a really good job by him. You don’t just hammer a pitch that far by accident – it was like he knew what was coming.
That run was all the Braves needed as they went on to shut out the Rays holding on to win 1-0.
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Of Concern…
The offense. Twice, the Braves failed to get a runner home from second or third base with less than 2 outs.
In the case of Culberson’s 5th inning triple, he led off the inning with that gapper, yet after a strikeout and two groundouts he was unable to move from that spot.
Of Note…
The bullpen. Shane Carle, A.J. Minter, Dan Winkler, and Arodys Vizcaino. This quartet managed to scatter 3 hits and 2 walks over 3 innings. A double play in the 9th snuffed the Rays’ attempt at a last moment rally.
It wasn’t domination for this part of the game either, but it was enough.
Before the Game
The Atlanta Braves made a small roster move prior to them squaring off against the Tampa Bay Rays. The Braves outrighted RHP Luke Jackson to the Gwinnett Stripers and recalled LHP Luiz Gohara from AAA.
The #Braves today recalled LHP Luiz Gohara from Triple-A Gwinnett and outrighted RHP Luke Jackson to @GoStripers. Gohara will wear No. 53.
— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) May 8, 2018
We told you this looked likely, and now it’s happened.
Gohara will work out of the bullpen for now but could work his way back into a starting role. He has been plagued by injuries this season and has struggled to recapture his form from last year.
What’s Next
Tomorrow is the last day in Tampa before a trip further south to face Derek Jeter‘s Marlins for the first time. Here is how tomorrow should shape out:
Next: Can You Lay 1 Down for Me?
- Braves: Julio Teheran
- Rays: Ryan Yarbrough
- Game Time: 6:10pm EDT