Atlanta Braves unleash the Joctober surprise, win Game 3
It’s still evident that anxiety is running high among the Atlanta Braves, but once again it was a single swing that decisively determined the outcome.
During Friday’s opening game, one rowdy swing derailed an outstanding outing by Atlanta Braves starter Charlie Morton as his own offense had trouble getting out of its own way.
On Saturday, the Braves employed a modified version of ‘small ball’ — or what passes for that this year — was employed to scrape together enough runs for a 3-0 victory.
In today’s Game 3 — Monday afternoon — the Atlanta attack consisted of one key hit… that hit coming from a likely source:
WELCOME TO JOCTOBER!@yungjoc650 | #ForTheA pic.twitter.com/scosmrCNuN
— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) October 11, 2021
There had been (quite reasonable) speculation that Joc Pederson would start today’s game as his lifetime OBP against Milwaukee starter Freddy Peralta is .500. However, that comes via 4 walks and a single hit (it was, in fact, a single) in 10 plate appearances.
Pederson never saw Peralta today. Instead, he was used as a pinch hitter for Ian Anderson during the bottom of the 5th.
This was a key opportunity in the then-scoreless game as Travis d’Arnaud and Dansby Swanson had both singled to open the Braves efforts in that frame.
Brian Snitker made the call: It was time to remove his young starter and insert Joc.
But a home run? Did Brian Snitker really expect that?
Turns out that Brewers reliever Adrian Houser helped out by having Pederson look in the same spot 3 times… for the same type of pitch.
- Pitch #1: Strike looking… 93 mph fastball up
- Pitch #2: Ball — a 94 mph sinker well outside and low… not even interesting.
- Pitch #3: Strike swinging… 94 mph fastball, up and on the outside corner
- Pitch #4: Another fastball… 95 mph and up. This time over the middle of the plate.
Pederson had to adjust his swing, but he did so and tomahawked it … a screaming line drive into the Chop House… all set up by Houser failing to throw Pederson anything different (or at least any competitive pitch that he had to pay attention to).
That instantly made it 3-0 Braves, and the game was effectively over then…
Kinda. But before that point… and afterwards… there were moments that made Brewers fans bite nails.
Shields up; red alert
The Brewers did have multiple chances to break through, but each time Atlanta rose to the occasion:
- 4th innings: Yelich single, steals 2nd w/2 outs. He was stranded there.
- 5th: Hit batter, double. Urias only gets to third.
- groundout to drawn in infield at SS. Runners hold.
- grounder to 3rd. Runner at third out in rundown. No one else advances.
- Remaining runners are stranded.
- 7th: leadoff double. Runner never advances and is stranded.
- 8th: Walk, flyout, then a single. Runners 1st and 3rd with 1 out.
- a double play ended the inning.
In short, whether it was pitching or defense (and Swanson was usually right in the thick of the solution when the latter was involved), the Braves stymied the visitors at every turn. The Brewers were never able to get their own key hit.
It’s an Official Atlanta Braves playoff game when…
It’s unnervingly getting to the point that we are almost expecting a TOOTBLAN incident during every playoff game.
In last year’s NLCS, Austin Riley‘s youthful exuberance got him thrown out at a highly inopportune time… though you could argue that Swanson started the mess.
In Game 1, Jorge Soler was running on contact from third base with one out and became part of an instant coffee double-play brewed up by Miwaukee to keep the Braves off the board early.
Today… pretty much outdid everything else we’ve seen.
With one out in the bottom of the 2nd, Travis d’Arnaud was up with a run-scoring opportunity. He did his part: a fly ball to deep-ish left field. Deep enough that Christian Yelich conceded that Austin Riley was going to score from third base and give the Braves the first run of the game.
Except Adam Duvall. He was on first. He shouldn’t have moved.
He moved.
On the catch, Duvall apparently thought that Yelich might throw home. And then he apparently didn’t notice that the ball was coming toward second base. And then he apparently thought he’d get there safely regardless.
Wrong on at least two of those “apparentlys”. The throw arrived in time and Duvall was tagged out a split second before Riley slide home. That nullified Riley’s run as the inning ended before he scored.
Yes: another Atlanta player was Thrown Out On The Basepaths Like A Nincompoop. TOOTBLAN.
Sports are hilarious. If the Braves lose this play would’ve led all the conversations. Instead, everyone is talking about Joc’s pearls. https://t.co/PDbqtrSXSM
— Nubyjas Wilborn (@nwilborn19) October 12, 2021
Duvall contributed positively by going 2 for 4 on the day, but that could have been an enormous blunder had one swing not covered up that sin. Happily, it’s one break that Milwaukee could not take advantage of.
More about Joc
- Pederson is hitting .286 lifetime in the playoffs with an OPS of nearly .900.
- During 2020 for the Dodgers, he hit .382 in the post-season, and .400 during the World Series.
- He’s now 3 for 3 for Atlanta and has 11 playoff home runs in 172 plate appearances.
- Pederson has accounted for 4 of Atlanta’s 7 runs scored overall… in 3 ABs.
Yeah… that “Joctober” moniker isn’t just for show… even if he did steal (at least) a bat from Anthony Rizzo.
Joc Pederson was using Anthony Rizzo's bat for that home run! pic.twitter.com/jnlS4L2f9N
— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) October 11, 2021
Not quite done – Tricky Tuesday
The Atlanta starters have now combined to outpitch Milwaukee’s vaunted trio by giving up only 2 runs over 17 innings while striking out 24 and walking just one Brewer.
Tyler Matzuk has been the bullpen warrior, but it would be tough to see him on the mound again in Game 4. He’s been effective, though shown signs of having the Brewers figuring him out.
Yet Tuesday will be … different. Charlie Morton could be used on short rest. The Johnny Wholestaff approach could also be employed.
Either way, the Braves need to win on Tuesday to avoid sending the series back to Wisconsin for a Game 5 scenario (which would likely be against Corbin Burnes).
However Atlanta decides to proceed, they need to find pitchers who can continue to shut down the Brewer offense, which is batting just .176 so far.
For Milwaukee, if it’s Eric Lauer starting, know that he’s given up 2 or fewer runs in 13 of his past 15 starts… and usually got to the sixth inning.
He was blown up by the Dodgers during his last regular-season start (and as of now his last start, period), but it’s hard to take that one entirely seriously under the circumstances.
In other words, it’s yet another quality Milwaukee pitcher coming at us.
FINAL STAT: teams winning Game 3 after breaking a 1-1 series tie go on to win only 54% of 5-game playoff matchups. So it’s definitely not over yet… particularly with uncertain Braves pitching coming tomorrow.
Next. Keep your horses for the long term. dark
Game 4 begins at 5:07 PM on Tuesday as the Braves go for the series win. If Game 5 becomes necessary, it will begin at the same time on Thursday.