Atlanta Braves: Dansby Swanson shows signs of life in first ever 4-hit game
It was a sight for sore eyes on Wednesday night as Atlanta Braves saw a glimpse of the Dansby Swanson from the beginning of the season.
What a great night it was for the Atlanta Braves in Kansas City on Wednesday as Dansby Swanson and the offense broke out.
We’ve been waiting for a month now since Dansby came off the IL to show signs of life, and boy did he on Wednesday.
While you certainly don’t want to get too excited over one game, the type of at-bats that the Atlanta Braves shortstop had were very encouraging.
Dansby led off the game by getting himself into a 3-1 count and then drove a fastball on the outside corner to right field for a hit.
I had tweeted the night before when Dansby pulled a similar pitch to shortstop that we need to see him start driving that ball the other way. Now I know Dansby follows me on Twitter because that’s exactly what he did with that pitch.
He fell behind 0-2 in his second at-bat but battled back into a 2-2 count and fouled a 2-2 pitch off before grounding out. He saw nothing but off-speed pitches in that at-bat.
In his third at-bat, he fell behind 0-2 again and fouled off a change-up before lining out to deep right-center on a high fastball.
The very next inning he came up with the bases loaded, worked himself into a 3-2 count, fouled a ball off, and then singled up the middle to drive in two and give the Braves the lead.
When Dansby reached first base you could see the emotion, and it just seemed like he had that swagger back that I’ve been talking about.
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In the 8th he fouled off a slider on the first pitch and then singled the other way on a slider, a pitch he’s really been struggling with.
He put an exclamation mark on his night by doubling to right-center in his last at-bat, giving him his first career 4-hit game.
Again, you don’t want to overreact to one game, but man it was impressive. Dansby was on every pitch, and for the first time since Sept. 2 he didn’t strikeout in a game in which he had at least three at-bats.
Dansby wasn’t the only one who broke out on Wednesday. Ozzie Albies stayed hot and is now tied for the NL lead in hits. Josh Donaldson stroked 3 doubles in the game and had 4 RBI after suffering a mini-slump.
I thought Austin Riley had some encouraging at-bats as well even though he only had one hit to show for it on the night.
But Dansby certainly stole the night and gave Atlanta Braves fans some hope going into the postseason that he’s finally turned things around.
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As a huge Dansby Swanson supporter, hopefully this is a sign of things to come as the Atlanta Braves enter the postseason.