3 Takeaways from the Atlanta Braves late night 7-5 win against the Padres

For most of us on the east coast, the Atlanta Braves win didn’t happen until past midnight, but nonetheless it was a fun one.

The Atlanta Braves had not won a series in San Diego since 2011, but on Saturday night they fought their way to secure this series in game 2 with the potential to sweep on Sunday.

Julio Teheran took the mound against Joey Lucchesi and started out with promise but = like Chip Caray said – kind of became a different pitcher after allowing a home run in the fifth.

He did allow a Manny Machado home run in the first but had already gotten two outs and mostly faced the minimum for the other innings prior to the fifth.

However after the Francisco Mejia homer in that fifth inning, Teheran walked Manuel Margot and then hit Greg Garcia with a pitch. A sacrifice fly from Josh Naylor gave the Padres the lead. Teheran got through the inning and through the sixth but earned a no-decision.

From the offense perspective, it seem like the Braves are picking up right where they left off based on the last two games: l ots of homers, clutch hits, magic in the seventh inning and later, and winning. Here’s three takeaways from Saturday’s game:

Josh Donaldson For A Couple More Years?

Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t a reaction to his recent streak but more of what we’ve seen this whole season plus I’ve always wanted Josh Donaldson to be an Atlanta Brave.

Offensively speaking, Donaldson didn’t start off hot as most would’ve want him for 2019 but he would spray the ball over the walls here and there while providing some hits to drive in runs. It’s no doubt, however, something (maybe the Joe Musgrove situation) recently sparked his fire because he’s been MVP-Josh Donaldson as of late.

Another thing is, some were doubtful about Donaldson’s character/personality, but it’s safe to say it has given the Braves a type of edge/swagger. We saw hints of it last season with Ozzie Albies and Ronald Acuña Jr. but there’s a different level of confidence with this 2019 club.

Prior to his hot streak, some were ready for the Braves to move on and have Austin Riley slide into the 3rd base slot for 2020, but now there’s already second thoughts that perhaps the Braves should extend Donaldson at least another season if possible.

On the season, Donaldson is hitting .254 with 21 homers and 51 RBIs. But his stats lately:

It hasn’t been spoken about much but Donaldson has been pretty good at third as well.

He seems to also like playing on this team as well. So what do you think? Would you be down for a couple more years of Donaldson?

Acuña Is Just Fine Right? I Think So

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The Braves young phenom is coming off his first major-league home run derby and currently owns a 19-game on-base streak with his second homer in as many nights Saturday.

Two homers after the derby/break would give the quick answer that Ronald Acuña Jr. wasn’t affected by the “Home Run Derby Curse.”

But is he really immune? For fun, let’s just take a look.

On Friday, Acuña went 1-4 including three strikeouts; two of those swinging on 3-pitch at-bats. The lone hit was his solo homer.

For Saturday’s game, he went 1-6 with the home run and also two strikeouts swinging with one looking.

Last season, after the All-Star break, Acuña started the second half big, having a 3-for-4 game against the Nationals including a home run and a walk. The day after he went 3-5 for a total of 6-9 in the first two games post-break. He then went on for total domination to win the ROY award.

I’m not jumping immediately to the point that he’s declining in offense production or anything like that this year, especially with the two home runs. However, the fact that it’s two home runs and the rest are outs with mostly swinging K’s, maybe his timing is a big “off.”

It could be he’s still in the derby/batting practice-esque rhythm where he’s kind of quick-triggering his swing. Maybe it’s something else. Maybe it’s just coincidence.

So what about some of his fellow Derby opponents? Here’s the stat line for the Final 4 in the last two games:

Name                                           Stat

R. Acuña Jr.                                 2-10 with six strikeouts + two home runs

Pete Alonso                               1-7 with five strikeouts + two walks

Vlad. Guerrero Jr.                       2-8 with two strikeouts

Joc Pederson                              0-2 (Pinch-hitting on Saturday)

That was just from doing a quick look at the box scores from the last two games for those players/team and those players only. I also know there were four others in the derby and definitely others that haven’t played well since the break.

Acuña currently has a .289 BA with 23 homers and 55 RBIs and two games is for sure a small sample size. He clearly is also doing better than the other three.