Atlanta Braves second baseman Ozzie Albies is off to a heck of a 2018 season

Albies is off to a fantastic 2018 season, will anything stop this young man? I hope not!

The Atlanta Braves are not only having a great season in the win-loss category, they’re actually extremely entertaining to watch — and it all begins with the guy leading off…21-year-old Ozzie Albies!

The 5’8″, 165-pounder from Willemstad, Curacao has been answering and hearing questions about his size for an awful long time now and he’s here to silence the talkers.  He’s showing that size does not matter when you’ve got the talent.  And he definitely has the talent.

On Thursday night, Albies went 2-6 at the plate which currently puts him at a .285 batting average for the 2018 season.  BUT, that’s not the impressive part about the game last night.

In the top of the 6th inning, with the Braves and the Miami Marlins tied at 1-1, Albies stroked a ball to deep right field.  This wasn’t a no-doubter home run, but it did clear the bases for the Atlanta Braves.  That’s right, Albies smoked a grand slam which broke open the game.

At the conclusion of the game, Albies had five RBIs and a run scored.  He’s now hit 11 home runs, scored 35 times, has 29 RBIs and has four stolen bases.

Ozzie didn’t act alone on Thursday, the Braves offense put up nine runs off 16 hits.  The Braves improved to 22-14 for the 2018 season.

Other multi hit games came from Nick Markakis who went 2-5, Johan Camargo who went 2-3 and Ender Inciarte who went 3-5 at the dish.

Oh, how could I forget the leader of our offense…Freddie Freeman.  He had a pretty solid night at the plate.  He went 5-5 with two RBIs and a run scored.  It was hit first five hit game of his career.

“It is a good one and definitely one that I will remember as it is my first five hit game,” Freddie told reporters after the game.  “But the big one tonight was Ozzie and his grand slam.”

Braves pitcher showed up on Thursday

Mike Foltynewicz started on the mound for the Braves.  He started off shaky, but settled down to have a very effective night.  In the bottom of the 1st inning, he gave up a leadoff single and a walk to the Miami hitters.  He was missing many pitches and looked like he didn’t have hit best stuff.  Luckily, that changed.  He lasted five innings, gave up three hits, one run, two walks and had four strikeouts.

Sam Freeman came into the game in the 6th inning and had a solid inning.  Struck out one and didn’t allow a hit.  His ERA is now down to 3.31 in 2018.

Luiz Gohara is the big takeaway from the night.  It was his first appearance with the Braves of the 2018 season after having a terrible offseason — his father passed away, dealt with a groin injury and then an ankle injury.  He pitched three innings for the Braves on Thursday, gave up two hits, on home run in the 9th inning, two walks and two strikeouts.  The big 21-year-old was pouring sweat off himself while on the mound.  That Miami heat will get anyone!  In his first game back, he picked up the save.

Next: Mark Bradley wants to sell the farm for Machado

This was the first game of a four-game series that runs through Sunday.  The second game will be on Friday with first pitch scheduled for 7:10pm ET with Brandon McCarthy going for the Braves and Dan Straily on the mound for the Marlins.