What will this series against the Red Sox tell us about the Atlanta Braves?

What happened during Game 1?

The Braves were neck and neck with the Red Sox during game 1 of the series until the 5th inning. This is when Touki Toussaint began to falter against the Red Sox by giving up back-to-back-to-back doubles to the Sox.

But wait, the 22-year-old rookie making his 2nd career big league start had the Red Sox hitless through the first 4 innings of the game. Now that is something to be impressed about. Touki Toussaint gave up 3 runs in the 5th inning before getting pulled, but his performance leading up to the 5th inning was phenomenal for someone making his 2nd career big league start.

The offense of the Atlanta Braves had plenty of opportunities to score, and it showed on the statistics page by the Braves leaving 26 runners on base and only scoring 2 runs all game. There was more than one occasion where the Braves left the sacks full to end an inning and missed out on key opportunities to put up points against Boston. The Braves ended the 1st, 4th, and 7th innings with the bases loaded, right there making up for 34% of the runners left on base.

The Braves’ main offensive threat, Ronald Acuña, was 0-5 with 3K’s and did not get on base at all during the game. Acuña was the only Brave that was hitless during this game. It’s difficult to criticize a 20 year old rookie for not getting on base like he is used to doing, especially against the best team in baseball. But Acuña did not perform like the Braves needed him to. He did not provide as much of a spark at the top of the lineup as he should have, and that is okay!