Three Takeaways: The Atlanta Braves pound the Philadelphia Phillies
The Atlanta Braves pummeled the Philadelphia Phillies 15-1 Sunday afternoon, to win the series and push their lead to 2.5 games in the NL East.
Just. Win. The. Series. It really is that simple for the Atlanta Braves.
While it would have been great for the Braves to close out Saturday night’s game, increasing their lead in the division was the only thing important about this series and they did that.
And let’s be honest, they stole Friday’s game anyways, so it all balanced out.
The Braves hammered out 19 hits against a Phillies’ pitching staff that surrendered 13 earned runs in the three-game series.
With their win Sunday, the Braves are now 6-1 on the current home stand and 12-3 in their last 15 games.
The top four in the batting order went a combined 10-for-18 Sunday, with six RBIs and eight runs scored.
Josh Donaldson is getting hot (more on that in the takeaways) and Mike Foltynewicz’s start was encouraging (also more on that later in the takeaways).
It was a great way to end the series, especially with the bad taste in everybody’s mouth from Saturday night.
The struggling Mets come to town for three games starting tomorrow.
Meanwhile, here’s 3 takeaways from Sunday’s big outburst.
3. Here comes J-Don
This Twitter exchange from Grant McAuley and Chris Dimino of 680 The Fan pretty much sums it up, no?
In his last six games, Donaldson is hitting .385, with four home runs and nine runs driven in. He has homered in his past four games.
There was significant impatience with Donaldson throughout the first three months of the season and most of it was misguided.
Sure, the “check the back of my baseball card” comment was arrogant and some thought spending $23 million on him, hoping for a bounce back year, wasn’t wise.
But Donaldson is on pace for 27 home runs, 75 RBIs and 90 walks and those projections are surely to rise based on his torrid streak now.
The “Bringer of Rain” is pouring it on.
2. Ozzie says “Me too!”
Ozzie Albies will call Josh Donaldson on that .385 average and raise him his .410 mark through the last ten games.
Of his 16 hits in those ten games, nine have gone for extra bases, including three home runs.
On June 5th, Albies was batting .259 and after Sunday’s game, he is now batting .281.
Batting from the left side has been a struggle for Albies through his first season and a half in the big leagues.
Last year he slashed .231/.282/.413 as a left-handed batter, but this year he has jumped that line to .255/.335/.420… much of this increase coming in the past month.
Those numbers figure to get better.
1. Come on, Folty
Mike Foltynewicz’s season has been maddening, to say the least, and I know I’m not breaking any news there.
He went six innings Sunday, scattering four hits, while striking out six, yet walking five batters and allowing an earned run. Despite the high pitch count (100), he did manage to avoid damage.
Over his past six starts, Foltynewicz is 2-2 with a 4.11 ERA. He has struck out 34 batters, while walking 10.
What has been particularly encouraging over his past two starts is that he has given up no home runs. He had given up seven home runs in the four starts before that.
With Max Fried scuffling and Mike Soroka likely to come back to earth a bit, Foltynewicz needs to continue to trend upward to pair with Dallas Keuchel and Julio Teheran.
Final Notes
Sunday also saw the debut of prospect Huascar Ynoa. Though it was simply in a mop-up role, fans got to see a 2 inning, 2 strikeout performance with just 1 hit allowed. It was a solid effort and leaves the hopes of greater things to come.
Today’s laugher over Philly was good to see, too. There are no easy outs in this Braves offense, which figures to take some of the pressure off the pitching staff.
Next week, I’ll take an in-depth look at where this offense stacks up to the rest of the National League.
Until then, chop on!