Against all odds, Atlanta Braves starter Bryce Elder was genuinely good against St. Louis on Wednesday. He went six innings and gave up just the one run which, if you have been following along, is borderline miraculous. The problem is that the Braves' offense did precious little to back up Elder's effort...at least until Eli White finally came along.
Locked in a 1-1 game, there was a growing sense of dread that the Braves' bullpen would falter yet again. Just hours removed from a bullpen implosion for the ages, Aaron Bummer and Raisel Iglesias were both pre-determined to be unavailable, the remaining relievers were most of the same crew that got beat up by the Cardinals on Tuesday night.
However, the bullpen held on and that is when Eli White came to the rescue just like we all predicted.
1️⃣st homer of the season for Eli White
— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) April 23, 2025
2️⃣nd-decker
3️⃣ runs score#BravesCountry pic.twitter.com/16VdlNb8pc
Eli White saves Braves from themselves against the Cardinals
After a strong spring training, Atlanta certainly hoped that White could provide a spark off the bench. However, opportunities have been few and far between for him between the Braves' early outfield platoon as well as the recent call-up of Alex Verdugo.
Thankfully, his bat was working just fine as he absolutely destroyed a hanging slider in the bottom of the eighth inning. Not known for his power, White crushed a three run homer that was 106.9 mph off the bat and went 434 feet. That will pretty much play anywhere.
From there, it was straightforward. Daysbel Hernandez (who has been pretty good this year so far) stayed in the game and handled the ninth with little incident. Just like that, what looked like another disappointing day of Braves baseball this season turned into a much needed series win before Atlanta goes back out on the road to Arizona for the weekend.