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3 Takeaways from Atlanta Braves’ series win vs. Cardinals

By Alan Carpenter

ATLANTA, GA - MAY 16: Ronald Acuna Jr. #13 of the Atlanta Braves rounds third on his way to score in the sixth inning of an MLB game against the St. Louis Cardinals at SunTrust Park on May 16, 2019 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Todd Kirkland/Getty Images)
ATLANTA, GA - MAY 16: Ronald Acuna Jr. #13 of the Atlanta Braves rounds third on his way to score in the sixth inning of an MLB game against the St. Louis Cardinals at SunTrust Park on May 16, 2019 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Todd Kirkland/Getty Images) /
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ATLANTA, GEORGIA – MAY 15: John Gant #53 of the St. Louis Cardinals reacts after the eighth inning and giving up a two-run homer to Charlie Culberson #8 of the Atlanta Braves at SunTrust Park on May 15, 2019 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
ATLANTA, GEORGIA – MAY 15: John Gant #53 of the St. Louis Cardinals reacts after the eighth inning and giving up a two-run homer to Charlie Culberson #8 of the Atlanta Braves at SunTrust Park on May 15, 2019 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images) /

The best way to attack a team that’s struggling is to score and score often.  Once the Atlanta Braves re-acclimated to home, that’s exactly what happened.

After the 1st of May, the St. Louis Cardinals were (easily) a league-best 20-10.  Now that the Atlanta Braves have knocked them around for a couple of days, the Cards have fallen to 23-21.

Atlanta put 10 runs up on the board, beating St. Louis 10-2 Thursday night; balancing the scoring after an opening 14-3 loss and 4-0 win.

Half of the damage came against longtime ace Adam Wainwright.  He’s clearly in the twilight of his career, but the former Braves’ 1st round pick still carries a lot of cachet and it was good for this team to take advantage of an off-night for him.

I could devote an entire page to Austin Riley, because truly, the Life of Riley is a fairy-tale experience right now.  Witness:

  • Game 1 (Wednesday)
    • strikeout swinging
    • Home Run
    • Flyout (to the warning track)
  • Game 2 (Thursday)
    • Double (missing a homer by the narrowest of margins, high off the RC wall – yes:  opposite field)
    • Clean single
    • muscled single up the middle – hit off of his hands
    • groundout to third (fielder’s choice)

So after 2 days, he’s 4 for 7 with 3 runs scored, 2 RBI and a slash line of .571/.571/1.143/1.714 and could quite plausibly be 5 for 7 with three homers.

Whatever you do:  don’t wake the kid up and tell him that major league baseball isn’t supposed to be this easy.  Let him keep thinking it is for as long as possible!

Heck, maybe it’s truly all about seeing the ball better (‘the lights are better here than at Gwinnett’ is what he told an interviewer).

It’s great that the offense is clicking on all cylinders:  Milwaukee is heading into town for the weekend, and they’ve taken 10 of their last 13 games to roar up into the backseat of the Cubs bandwagon.

But that’s something for Friday and beyond.  Right now, here’s 3 takeaways that stayed with us after a team effort series win… and it really wasn’t all about RIley.

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