Atlanta Braves: Smyly’s strong performance leads to sweep of Nationals
By Steven Teal
The Atlanta Braves responded to being swept in their series with Toronto by sweeping the Washington Nationals in 3 games.
It was important for the Atlanta Braves to respond well after being swept during their series with Toronto.
Drew Smyly took the mound on Thursday afternoon hoping to give the team a chance to do just that by sweeping the Nationals in D.C.
I know that probably didn’t instill much confidence in much of the fanbase as Smyly hasn’t been as good as we’d hoped. Especially when the team has $11 million invested in him.
Strange how they got there, but most #Braves would've gladly taken a 3-3 road trip against the Jays and Nats going into the thing.
— David O'Brien (@DOBrienATL) May 6, 2021
Smyly’s performance on Thursday may have been his best of the season. He pitched in relatively stress-free conditions and got through 6 innings allowing just 1 unearned run via 4 hits and 4 strikeouts. He did issue 4 walks (1 of them intentional), however.
Related Story. Smyly's Leash is Getting Shorter. light
The bullpen took over in the 7th inning and it was nail-biting at times.
Luke Jackson, who has quietly earned himself a 1.64 ERA, had a mess to clean up in the 7th as Smyly walked Schwarber to end his outing. Jackson then allowed a single to Robles but settled in after that with a lineout and pair of groundouts to strand a runner at third while getting through a tough trio in Juan Soto, Trea Turner, and Yadiel Hernandez.
Grant Dayton deserves some credit as well. Dayton entered after Yan Gomes’ one-out single off Edgar Santana brought the Nationals within one run in the eighth. Santana allowed 1 run on 2 hits in the inning.
Dayton recorded back-to-back strikeouts of Kyle Schwarber and Victor Robles. Robles was struck out on a questionable call on a curveball that appeared to be a tad low… though a pitch consistent called all day.
The Nationals were visibly upset by the call but it was similar to a bad call made earlier on Austin Riley.
The Braves were only able to muster up a few runs thanks to Ozuna and Adrianza. But it was just enough to get the job done as Will Smith slammed the door shut to earn his 7th save with an uneventful ninth inning.
Smyly’s performance was encouraging to see and so is the way Ozuna is starting to swing the bat.
In his last 7 games, Marcel has a .267 average with 8 hits including 2 homers and 8 RBI in that time frame.
His on-base percentage is still extremely poor however and needs to be improved but he’s starting to hit and that’s what I care about most right now.
Thursday’s win put the Braves in third place in the NL East and just one win away from .500 again.
Next. The Grandest of All Victories. dark
Atlanta heads back to Truist Park to take on the first-place Phillies and then welcome the Blue Jays to town, hopefully with a better result this time around.
It’s time to start putting our foot on the gas and start a nice winning streak.