The Atlanta Braves had to fight for their second win of the season on Tuesday night against the Phillies. Chris Sale struggled quite a bit in his second start of the season and it has rightfully worried some fans. However, the offense backed him up including a sneaky strong performance from Jarred Kelenic.
However, the offense did an excellent job in their plate approaches against Zack Wheeler and the Philly bullpen. Sean Murphy gets the highlight as he drove in four runs during his season debut. Three of those runs came from a massive three-run homer in the bottom of the second inning.
Kelenic's performance was overshadowed a bit in this game, but he was key in kickstarting two of Atlanta's scoring opportunities. Kelenic ended the game 1-for-1 with three walks and two runs scored.
Jarred Kelenic was an unsung hero of the Braves series opening win over the Phillies
His first walk came after an eight-pitch at-bat with two outs in the second inning which provided Murphy the chance to hit his go-ahead home run. Kelenic also hit a single that moved Bryan De La Cruz to second. Murphy then drove in De La Cruz with a single of his own.
Kelenic eventually scored the tying run as Michael Harris II hit a sac fly against Matt Strahm. Austin Riley gave the team a 6-5 lead in the seventh inning with an RBI double. The last thing we need to touch on is the nice diving catch Kelenic made for the first out of the ninth inning. This prevented Max Kepler from getting on base with Trea Turner and Bryce Harper coming up.
Raisel Iglesias got the job done and earned his first save of the season. The entire team did a great job after things looked like a lost cause after the Phillies chased Sale from the game after 4.2 innings and took the lead back.
Kelenic has struggled this season and hasn't really been what fans hoped he would be since he was acquired ahead of the 2024 season. He is batting just .185/.267/.296 on the season and those three walks were his first walks of the season.
The only advanced metrics Kelenic is excelling in so far in 2025 are bat speed and chase percentage. He is below average in every other category. This game could (hopefully) be the kind of confidence booster to help Kelenic hit better on a consistent basis.