On March 29 against the Phillies, the Braves sent out their best lineup. They have not used that one since then.
On Tuesday through Thursday, with the Phillies in town, Atlanta used a vastly different lineup – one that included three players who were designated for assignment by other teams this season. An example: Whit Merrifield, who was let go by Philadelphia before the Braves signed him, hit second in two of the games, and Ramón Laureano, whom Cleveland released earlier this year, batted second in the other.
Still, the Braves won the series by taking Thursday’s finale, 3-2. Atlanta has won all three series against the Phillies to this point. The teams will play a four-game set in Philadelphia next weekend.
Five observations:
1. On Monday, the Braves received grim news: Austin Riley, a franchise cornerstone, suffered a fracture in his right hand and would miss approximately six to eight weeks. Instead of folding, they continued fighting.
How’s two out of three over the Phillies for a response?
This is part of the Braves’ identity. They don’t crumble.
“No doubt,” reliever Pierce Johnson said. “And then a guy like Gio (Urshela) comes in and fills in that role so well. I think that’s a testament to the culture we have in this locker room, and everybody kind of rallies around everybody and is pulling for each other. It’s plug and play. Guys have just filled in (at) different spots.”
Urshela, signed Tuesday, had a terrific series and drove in a run on Thursday. He also made several nice defensive plays. Merrifield made his old team pay by helping turn multiple double plays – with Urshela – and swinging the bat well. The pitching staff held Philadelphia to six runs in three games. Laureano made a couple great catches in the outfield.
And Adam Duvall, whose struggles have been fully on display, hit a homer that proved to be the deciding run.
This was a group effort.
“Losing a guy like that is huge,” Duvall said of Riley. “He’s a pillar on the team. It can be heartbreaking. But we’ve still gotta go out there and play and people have to step up, and they’ve done that.”
2. How happy were Duvall’s teammates to see him come up big?
“I love that guy,” Johnson said, enthusiastically. “I want nothing but success for everybody on this team. But for how hard that guy works, for the career he’s had. And I know he’s had a down year, but what an unbelievable human to have in this clubhouse. The way our bullpen went nuts when he hit that ball today, it was so cool to see. I know he can’t hear us, he can’t see us, but everybody’s pulling for that guy, because he’s just such a phenomenal player and an even better human.”
In the sixth inning, Duvall launched a solo homer off Cristopher Sánchez. He went 3-for-3 – the other two hits were infield singles.
Before his homer, Duvall had only hit two home runs since the start of play on July 10 – both on July 26 versus the Mets. Entering Thursday, he’d been 1-for-29 over his last 12 games.
“It felt good to finally put the barrel on one,” Duvall said. “It’s a funny game, man. It really is.”
It was a nice moment for Duvall, who’s had a rough time this season. He’s batting .186 with a .577 OPS.
“What I’ve been going through, you gotta search for things to be kind of positive about, because a lot of things haven’t really gone my way,” Duvall said. “It’s been a tough year in that (way). But like I said, you find the good things and try and replicate those.”
3. Old news: Spencer Schwellenbach is terrific.
He did it again against the Phillies. He held them to two earned runs over 6 2/3 innings after keeping them quiet in July.
In two starts against Philadelphia, he’s allowed three earned runs over 12 2/3 frames.
“Yeah, it definitely gives me a lot of confidence,” he said of his performance against that potent lineup. “I have confidence every time I throw, but after one like that, when you’ve got your team behind you, too, it makes it feel really good.”
Schwellenbach retired 19 consecutive batters between the first and seventh innings. Since 1961, he’s the third Braves rookie (fourth instance) to retire at least 19 consecutive batters within an outing – last done by Craig McMurtry, twice, in 1983.
4. Johnson took over for Schwellenbach and got the final out of the seventh. In the eighth, Johnson issued consecutive one-out walks in a one-run game.
Then he used his mentality of just focusing on the next pitch.
“One-hundred percent, because I can do nothing about what just happened, right?” he said. “And obviously I’m not trying to walk anybody to get to (Kyle) Schwarber in a one-run game and I’m not trying to walk anybody to get to (Trea) Turner. Next pitch is always the mentality. Flush whatever happened and go out there and just keep competing.”
After those two walks, Johnson threw a curveball down in the strike zone to Turner and got him to ground into an inning-ending double play. The Braves doubled up Turner – one of the fastest guys in baseball – twice in two nights.
This one helped save the game.
Johnson was proud of the curveball he threw.
“Oh yeah,” he said. “Being able to do that, with a great play by Gio and Whit turning it on a really fast runner, that was ultimately what saved my outing. Hats off to those guys. But, I mean, that’s been my pitch all year, that’s been my pitch my entire career, so I’m gonna live and die on it. Thankfully, I came out on the better end.”
5. The Nationals come to Truist Park on Friday. Remember: The Braves cannot take them lightly, as they’ve won six of eight games against Atlanta this year.
In Friday’s series opener, Chris Sale will face Washington left-hander MacKenzie Gore. Charlie Morton will start Saturday and Reynaldo López will go on Sunday.
“This was a big series,” Duvall said of beating the Phillies. “But we’ve got Washington coming in and we gotta turn the page. We’ve done that all year. We do pretty well with that – just staying focused on that night’s game and trying to get a W.”
Stat to know
6-3 - The Braves are 6-3 against the Phillies thus far. Why that’s important: The first tiebreaker in the standings is head-to-head record. The Braves only need to win one of the four games in Philadelphia to win the season series. This means that, if they were to be tied with the Phillies after the final day of the season, they would be National League East champions for a seventh consecutive season.
Quotable
“That was kind of my mindset right when they called me up, was that, ‘We need a guy, I’m gonna be that guy.’ Just having that mindset, staying confident is kind of all I can do for myself.” - Schwellenbach on taking advantage of his opportunity this season
Up next
Friday’s series opener against Washington begins at 7:20 p.m.
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