3 Takeaways as Atlanta Braves waste a great start from Dallas Keuchel
By Steven Teal
2. Nola Dominant Against Braves Bats
Aaron Nola has always enjoyed pitching against the Atlanta Braves and Tuesday was no different.
The Braves offense had no answer for Nola through 8 innings. His fastball command was nearly perfect and his curveball/changeup combo was enough to keep every Braves hitter off balance. Nola was able to strike out 8 Braves hitters and allowed just 4 hits.
In 15 starts against the Atlanta Braves, Aaron Nola carries a 2.26 ERA allowing 3 runs or less in 14 of those starts.
He is only the second starting pitcher to shut out the Braves in 2019. The only other starter to accomplish this is Cy Young candidate, Hyun Jin Ryu.
Nola's 15 career starts vs. #Braves: 9-3 with 2.26 ERA, including three or fewer runs in all but one start.
— David O'Brien (@DOBrienATL) July 3, 2019
It isn’t a surprise that Nola was able to dazzle against a red hot Braves offense. He has a 0.39 ERA in his previous 3 starts (23 IP) and has allowed just 1 earned run in those starts.
He seems like he has started to figure things out and the Braves were victims of that success. I don’t know what motivates him to pitch so well against Atlanta but they’ll need to figure that out before facing him again in 2019.
We were bound to see the dominant side of Aaron Nola at some point and unfortunately for the Braves, that was Tuesday night.
Dallas Keuchel’s start was overshadowed due to just how good Nola’s performance was on the mound. There’s not much you can do but tip your cap and try again next time.