JR Ritchie's Braves debut gem was almost spoiled by two big mistakes

After a pair of short starts from Reynaldo Lopez and Didier Fuentes, the Atlanta Braves had to place JR Ritchie in a very difficult situation. Not only were they calling him up for his MLB debut against a division rival on the road, but it was with the understanding that they REALLY needed Ritchie to go deep in the game to help the Braves' bullpen be fresh against the Phillies this weekend.

For the most part, Ritchie was as advertised. He was mixing his pitches well, missing bats, and was efficient. Ritchie didn't even walk his first batter until the sixth inning. When the dust settled, and Ritchie had logged his 89 pitches, he had a line to be proud of with seven innings where he gave up two runs on five hits and two walks while punching out seven batters. Have a day, kid.

Unfortunately, Ritchie made some mistakes that he almost certainly wishes he could take back. There are two hitters, in particular, in the Nationals' lineup that you don't want to let be you in James Wood and CJ Abrams. Well, Ritchie slipped up against both of them (kinda), and they predictably made Ritchie pay.

Aside from a couple of pitches, JR Ritchie absolutely did his job during his Braves debut

The mistake to Abrams was at least defensible. It was definitely over the plate more than it should have been, but it was a changeup low out of the zone, and Abrams just went down and got it. If that pitch is located just a little bit better, Ritchie would have been thrilled that Abrams swung at it. However, it wasn't located very well, and Abrams did what good hitters do and blasted it.

The first pitch of the game to Wood was understandable, but still a big, big mistake. It is a certainty that the thinking from the Braves' and Ritchie's perspective was that this was his first pitch in the big leagues, so make sure that it is a strike to get some of the nerves out of the way. However, when you throw a 93 mph straight down the middle to arguably the hottest hitter in baseball at the moment, and he is lying in wait, the result is always going to be a ball sent into orbit. That is exactly what happened.

There are certainly going to be some out there that will bad mouth Wood for hacking at a kid's first pitch, but as long as players are paid for performance, you can't fault him for doing his job. Ritchie also got Wood looking later in the game for a bit of revenge. In the end, the Braves won handily, and while some of the joy of that was taken out by Michael Harris II's early exit, Ritchie more than did his part, and he might have saved Atlanta's bullpen in the process.

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