The Atlanta Braves took Game 1 of their series with Colorado on Thursday thanks to a huge offensive day from catcher Travis D’Arnaud.
The Atlanta Braves continued their road trip on Thursday evening as they began a 4-game set with the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Atlanta hopes to finally start putting together a winning streak and get out of this weird limbo that they find themselves in where they can only seem to win 2 games in a row.
They need to start trying to close the NL East division gap. The Mets currently have a lead of 9,5 games on the Braves. If they don’t do something soon, they can kiss that 5th straight division title goodbye.
Enough with the obvious, let’s get into some highlights from Thursday’s game.
"Most importantly, I just want to spread awareness that it's Lou Gehrig's Day today. Just pass that message. Today, everything was for ALS."
— Bally Sports: Braves (@BravesOnBally) June 3, 2022
— @Braves catcher Travis d'Arnaud after his multi-homer game against the Rockies pic.twitter.com/qIxPDwQxub
Ian Anderson continued to have some issues in the first inning as the Rockies took a quick 1-0 lead on a single to right field by Charlie Blackmon.
Anderson was able to bear down after that and strike out two batters in the inning and limit the damage to just one run.
The Braves didn’t take long to answer the Rockies as they tallied three runs in the top of the second inning.
Travis D’Arnaud got on base with a single and very soon after scored on a triple from Guillermo Heredia.
Heredia then scored as Michael Harris II reached base with what was scored as a single and advanced to second base on a throwing error by Brendan Rogers.
The final run of the inning came thanks to a RBI single off the bat of Dansby Swanson who continues to be hot at the plate.
In the last 15 games, Swanson has a slash line of .361/.409/.508 with 22 hits including 2 HR and 10 RBI.
Travis d'Arnaud GRAND SLAM! 💥#ForTheA pic.twitter.com/AHVaixDsVp
— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) June 3, 2022
The highlight of the game is obviously Travis D’Arnaud who had an incredible day at the plate as he finished the day 3-5 including 2 homers and 6 RBI.
One of those homers was a grand slam on the first pitch from Rockies starter Austin Gomber.
Three straight singles started the 5th inning for Gomber and loaded the bases for Atlanta.
D’Arnaud ambushed him on the first pitch and suddenly the Braves were up 9-1.
However, as we all know, in Colorado no lead is ever a comfortable lead. Either team can have an offensive explosion without notice in this ballpark.
The Rockies added 3 runs in the bottom of the 5th on an RBI single from Charlie Blackmon and a 2-run homer off the bat of C.J. Cron.
Atlanta would respond in the top of the 6th by adding on three more runs. Dansby Swanson, Austin Riley, and Matt Olson all drove in runs to extend the lead to 12-4.
After getting Jose Iglesias to ground into a double play in the bottom of the 6th, Ian Anderson would allow another homer. This time off the bat of Garrett Hampson.
However, that is all the runs Colorado would get in the inning. Ian Anderson would end his outing after 6 innings allowing 5 runs on 10 hits and striking out 9 batters. Ian now has a 4-3 record and a 4.70 ERA.
He’s not been able to find the same success he had with the Braves in his rookie season. However, we all know what he is capable of when he is at his best. I believe it’s only a matter of time before Anderson figures it out.
Jesus Cruz would get his first action in a Braves uniform as he took over for Anderson in the 7th.
It wasn’t a clean inning as he allowed one run on two hits with a lead-off walk. However, he limited the damage to just one run and that’s all we can ask for.
Darren O’Day and Dylan Lee finished out the day for Atlanta out of the bullpen as they combined for 2 innings of relief allowing just 1 hit, 1 walk, and 3 strikeouts.
Atlanta went on to win the game by a final score of 13-6. That 13th run came via an RBI single from Ronald Acuna Jr.that scored Michael Harris II.
This was a great start for the Braves and hopefully a sign of how the series will go. We need to win this series and not split it.
As I mentioned before, Atlanta has got to start putting together a winning streak that is longer than two games if they have any hope of trying to catch New York in the division standings.
We all know what happened last year and how we were able to tread water long enough to eventually find our footing and get things going.
However, the Mets have shown this year that they aren’t going to just let Atlanta stay close and repeat what happened in 2021.
The Braves are in control of their destiny and all we can do is hope they figure it out soon or we are going to have to settle for a wild card spot.
It is just now June so the season surely isn’t anywhere near lost at this point. However, it could be if we aren’t careful.