The Braves defeated the Reds 4-0 Sunday in Cincinnati to split the four-game series and complete a 4-4 road trip.
Here are five takeaways from Sunday:
1. Rookie lefty Kyle Muller baffled Reds hitters. He surrendered one (bloop) hit and struck out nine across five scoreless innings. He showed the poise and confidence that’s sometimes eluded other young Braves starters.
It was Muller’s third career appearance but second start. He impressed in his first start, when he allowed one run over four innings while keeping the Braves in a game against Mets ace Jacob deGrom. It earned him Sunday’s opportunity, when he looked even better.
“I love the assortment and how he uses his secondary pitches to get himself back in counts,” manager Brian Snitker said. “That’s a really good mix. The velocity was good, feel of the breaking stuff. He gets the ball and goes. He’s aggressive, unbelievable pace he sets.”
2. Muller across his first two starts: Nine innings, two hits, one run, 12 strikeouts and four walks. Muller exhibited inconsistent command throughout his minor-league career, but that hasn’t hurt him in the majors thus far. Muller likely earned his way into starting again later this week.
“It’s been awesome,” Muller said. “I feel like that’s something anyone coming to the big leagues is looking for, to have success early. Just knowing that your stuff plays and you can get some of the best hitters in the world out are really encouraging. That’s a big confidence booster going forward.”
3. Perhaps Muller’s most impressive sequence came in the third inning, when circumstances worked against him. He coaxed Scott Heineman into a popup in shallow right field, but a collision between Freddie Freeman, Ronald Acuna and Ozzie Albies resulted in Heineman reaching. He advanced to second on a wild pitch.
Muller then walked Tyler Mahle, the opposing starter. He fell behind Jonathan India 3-0, but India made contact on a check swing, resulting in the second out. Muller then struck out former MVP Joey Votto with an 89-mph slider to end the threat.
“That was a big inning for me, really more mentally than physically,” Muller said. “Striking out a guy like (Votto) in a high-pressure situation, it’s huge. I was super excited about that. But something I’ve been working on mentally is when an inning starts to get away from me, just taking my time, taking a deep breath and relaxing and focusing on executing pitches. I had a terrible at-bat to the pitcher. I didn’t throw anything competitive. That could rattle you, but instead I regrouped.”
Credit: Aaron Doster
Credit: Aaron Doster
4. The Braves scored twice off Reds starter Tyler Mahle in the second. Outfielder Guillermo Heredia reached on a hit by pitch and two outs later scored on outfielder Ronald Acuna’s double. First baseman Freddie Freeman singled on the next pitch, scoring Acuna.
It was a rare breakthrough for the offense, which had sputtered recently. Sunday was the first time in 10 games the Braves scored four runs in a contest. Entering the day, the offense was averaging two runs per game over the past nine games. It had managed only seven runs in the first three games of the series.
5. Acuna hammered his 21st homer of the season in the fifth, blasting a 3-1 slider from Mahle. It exited at 117.4 mph, the hardest-hit homer of his career, according to Statcast. In fact, Acuna has the four hardest-hit home runs by a Brave since Statcast began tracking data in 2015.
Stat to know
2 (The amount of hits Muller has surrendered across his first two starts, both of which were bloop knocks that could’ve been ruled errors.)
Quotable
“I don’t want to say anything to jinx it, but I’m pretty pumped.” – Muller on his early success
Up next
The Braves open a six-game homestand Tuesday against the Mets. Charlie Morton and Max Fried are expected to start the first two games of that series, which will be the Braves’ last meeting with the first-place Mets before the All-Star break.
