3 Tomahawk Takeaways as Atlanta Braves pound the ball early and often in offensive show vs. Pirates
1. One for the Books
The Atlanta Braves’ 2nd inning was remarkable. It started like this:
- Donaldson homered to right (365 feet) [2nd pitch; hit the foul pole]
- Markakis homered to center (417 feet) [5th pitch; splashed in the fountain]
- Riley struck out looking [6 pitches]
- McCann homered to left center (397 feet) [2nd pitch]
- Albies homered to right (379 feet) [1st pitch]
16 pitches. 4 homers. 4 runs.
Of these, only Albies’ shot was pulled. The others were either full-on opposite field shots or (with Markakis) toward straightaway center field, which just made this inning all the more remarkable.
Brian McCann later added a 2nd homer – giving the Braves a total of five for the game.
The Braves have hit five homers during both of the first two games of this series. They entered last night having hit 5 HRs in just five of their first 1,522 games of this decade.
— Mark Bowman (@mlbbowman) June 12, 2019
It was also a bit ironic that rookie masher Austin Riley was left out of this barrage. He did get a solid hit later in the game, which was good to see as he had been 1 for his prior 21 AB’s.
In the last 7 days, though… and not including this game… the Braves are 2nd in all of major league baseball in team non-pitching WAR with 1.9. 1st is the Rays at 2.1; the Mariners are 3rd with 1.7.
They are also #1 in runs scored over that past week, tied with Texas at 45 runs. The Rangers put 9 more on the board tonight, so while they’ll take over that top spot, the Braves’ 7 runs tonight will keep them close to that top spot.
The timing of this surge is excellent, especially if they can continue it through this weekend.
With all of the above said on the previous page, we do finally have a rejoiner with Philadelphia coming up. A chance for some payback. A chance for sole possession of 1st place.
The Phillies are 12th in runs despite being 8th in team WAR. Atlanta won’t have either Mike Soroka or Dallas Keuchel available to throw against them.
Next. You get a contract... and you get a contract.... dark
For their part, the Phillies have Zach Efflin, Nick Pivetta, and Aaron Nola scheduled for this weekend.