The Atlanta Braves walk off Wednesday victorious
In 2021 so far, nothing has come easy for the Atlanta Braves.
That includes the Wednesday night affair against the New York Mets, where after blowing another lead late in the game, the Atlanta Braves found a way to come back and at least salvage something out of the series.
It feels like my fourth or fifth time already saying this, this season but maybe this is the game that gets the Atlanta Braves going.
After all, if they would have lost this game, the fanbase would be red hot today with all kind of takes.
Ronald Acuna was the hero for the team on Wednesday as he took the first pitch of the 9th inning and deposited it into the Atlanta Braves bullpen to secure the 5-4 win.
Let’s carry on to the recap though, as there is a good amount to digest after the win.
Charlie Morton was good
This was the Charlie Morton the Atlanta Braves intended to sign and this is the version that they so desperately need right now.
Morton threw six innings of good ball. And as we have seen a lot of Atlanta Braves pitchers do so far, chipped in with an RBI hit. It should have been more than six innings of work, but we will get a bit more into that here a little later on.
The Braves certainly can not rely on Soroka for anything in 2021, and with Ynoa going down here for an extended period of time, even more is going to fall on the shoulders of Morton and Fried. Since returning from the IL, Fried has looked good once again, and if Wednesday was any indication, Charlie Morton is starting to round into form.
Through the six innings of work, Morton only allowed two hits and perhaps more importantly did not issue a free pass. His only mistake was location on a pitch that Villar put deep into the chophouse in right field.
Hopefully Charlie is heating up like the Atlanta weather.
Mistakes are killing the Atlanta Braves
This Atlanta Braves team is plagued by mistakes but more importantly, letting them rattle the team or player until an avalanche of problems exists.
That was still evident Wednesday despite the fact that the Braves come back and won the game.
The first mistake was made by manager Brian Snitker who decided to pinch hit for Charlie Morton in the bottom of the sixth inning. Yes, the bases were loaded, but I still felt at the time that Charlie was the better option to go out on the mound and shut down the Mets lineup once again.
It is absolutely no secret to anyone who has watched any inning this year, that the Atlanta Braves bullpen is the weakness of this team. Your job as a manager is to know this and play to your strengths and weaknesses. Charlie Morton had a low pitch count and was seemingly rolling at that point. Leave him in the game.
The next example was AJ Minter. Minter came in and was throwing really well but an errant thrown that was nowhere close took him off his game and let the whole inning unravel.
After the error, Minter could not find the strike zone and when he did, he allowed some hard hit balls. Luke Jackson allowed the go ahead hit, but it was all earned runs to Minter that allowed the Mets to storm back and take the lead.
The last was Dansby Swanson. And truthfully, it might not all have been on Dansby Swanson but it sure looked like it was a straight steal that he called on the bases.
I have to believe that if it was called steal, Contreras would have been on second base after they threw Swanson out. The caught stealing essentially ended the rally the Atlanta Braves put together in the 8th. There was no point in trying to steal third in that situation, especially with Acuna potentially coming up.
Heredia is the best option at the moment in CF.
Who would have thought a few weeks ago that the Atlanta Braves would be best positioned in Guillermo Heredia was the everyday center fielder?
So far though, that has been the exact case as he is hitting over .300 and providing timely hits to go along with it.
Truth be told though, it is liable to end at any moment so the Atlanta Braves should ride the wave as long as they can but when it starts to crash, quickly jump off and pivot back to Ender or Pache if they are both healthy.
However, it should be noted Heredia is doing a fine outstanding job patrolling center at the moment and not allowing the opposition to have two pitcher spots at the bottom of the Atlanta Braves lineup.
So the Atlanta Braves still lose the series against the New York Mets despite the victory on Wednesday night, but hopefully brighter days are ahead this weekend as the Pittsburgh Pirates come to Atlanta.
The Braves need to win at least 3 out of four and start slowly gaining ground not only in the NL East but on the entire National league as well.
The Arcia conundrum. dark. Next
Despite the lowly play thus far, the Braves are only 3 games out and 1 great run from taking back over the division. Let’s hope this win on Wednesday starts the propel back towards the top.