Atlanta Braves: Max Fried dominates without curveball, Pache’s debut

Atlanta Braves – Cristian Pache Gets First Hit

So Pache went down on strikes without swinging once, but the at-bat didn’t look bad. Nola kept everything on the outside edge and way off the plate. He was scraping the outer-edge on the called strikes (two of them). Pache was patient and didn’t get much to hit… to be continued.

In his next at-bat, he grounded into a fielder’s choice to end the inning on two pitches.

In the bottom of the fifth, the Braves held a 6-1 lead when Pache came to the plate. He struck out looking for the second time of the night.

Finally, in the bottom of the sixth with an 11-1 lead, Pache got a piece of one and hit a broken-bat squibber through the right side of the infield.

Atlanta Braves – Hot Hitters

Travis d’Arnaud hit third in the lineup and went 3-5 with a homer and three runs batted in. His bat has been so good the Braves can barely afford to give him a day off. He is proving to be a great signing and picking up right where he left off with the Rays last season.

Marcell Ozuna also ended the night 3-5 but tacked on two more homers. He may play defense like he’s wearing high heels, but this guy can hit the ball hard and far. Ozuna now has seven homers on the season and continues to rank among the elite in the game in hard-hit percentage and exit velocity. I was surprised to find that Ozuna is in the 65th percentile in sprint speed.

The Braves and Phillies square off again today with Robbie Erlin and Zack Wheeler.