Atlanta Braves: Takeaway’s from a rare Miami beatdown

It was a rare occurrence, but the Miami Marlins throttled the Atlanta Braves 9-2 Thursday evening.

Not a whole lot of good to say, so let’s just get straight to the three takeaway’s for the Atlanta Braves.

3. Dallas Keuchel got rocked- Has this experiment worked?

For the most part, these in season signing haven’t worked thus far, and Dallas Keuchel is having a hard time getting good results as well. After the Thursday game against the Marlins his ERA now sits at 4.83.

It rose over a full run after he allowed 10 hits and 8 Earned Runs in 3.2 IP against Miami. For the most part, Dallas has pitched good but then runs into an inning in the middle of the game where he gets roughed up a little bit.

The Home Run ball has been what has plagued Kuechel the most so far. After Thursday, Dallas has pitched in 10 games for the Braves and has accumulated slightly under 60 innings pitched. Simple math will tell you that he is averaging less than 6 IP per start. That will need to come up some, but again, its the 11 home runs he has allowed that worries me the most.

Everyone assumed when the Braves signed him, that he was the guy we would rely upon for the rest of the year and in the playoffs. Now I think it’s fair to wonder if Max Fried isn’t surpassing him on the depth chart and if Mike Foltynewicz has a few rebound starts, if he wont as well.

Hopefully, Keuchel can get it together and figure it out though. I feel much better about our chances if he is pitching anything close to what he did in his Houston Astros day’s. That is the Dallas Keuchel we want, and quite frankly we need for this Braves team to have a shot in the playoffs.

2. Ronald Acuna dislikes the Marlins

We all know the history and the backstory, but Ronald Acuna Jr is a one man wrecking crew against Miami. In 2019 he has played against them 10 times and has 49 at bats. In those 49 at bats, he has 15 hits, 5 Home Runs, 10 RBI’s, a .983 OPS, and a .612 Slugging Percentage.

His home run Thursday was his 30th of the year and that leaves him only 4 Stolen Bases short of a 30-30 season.

All those 2019 stats come a year after Acuna’s rookie season that saw him hit 7 Home Runs with 18 RBI’s against the fish along with a 1.129 OPS.

We all know Ronald Acuna is an extremely good player and is good against everybody, but there is something that ignites him when he plays the Miami Marlins.

Hopefully that trend continues for the next few weeks as the Braves have a couple of big series with the fish left. Obviously it would be a big help if Acuna maintains his current pace against the Miami Marlins.

1. Need to get more balanced on offense

I understand it’s a league wide trend that most of your scoring is going to come on the long ball, but it’s not going to come so easy in October. The Braves have to find way’s to get a runner in from third with less than two out, and the Braves have to find a way to advance runners when necessary.

I have felt at many times this season, the Atlanta Braves have gotten long ball happy and complacent with the long ball. Again, I know it’s a trend throughout the entire Major League, but I feel as if the team that can play small ball the best in October will have the best shot at winning the World Series.

I’m hoping the Braves can improve upon that and be that team that excels in that aspect of the game.

So that’s our takeaway’s from a forgettable night where the Marlins just straight up ambushed us right out of the game. Hopefully the results will change Friday night as the same two teams will be back in action as the Braves send Julio Teheran to the mound, who has dominated the Marlins so far this season.

Let us know your main takeaway’s from the game in the comments below.