Braves Report: Deeper lineup paying dividends

I’m starting to think Alex Anthopoulos is just trolling us.

When in doubt, bring Eddie Rosario back! And Ian Anderson! And Jesse Chavez, for the 400th time.

Honestly surprised Adam Duvall hasn’t made his annual appearance yet.

TONIGHT’S MATCHUP

Let’s keep the mile-high momentum going after last night’s 6-3 win, eh?

📺 How to watch: First pitch at 8:40 p.m. Eastern on FanDuel Sports.

⚾ The starters: German Marquez (0-4, 9.30 ERA) is up for Colorado (which may mean we see Orlando Arcia at shortstop; he’s hitting .455 with a homer in 11 at-bats against Marquez).

And the Braves finally announced AJ Smith-Shawver as tonight’s starting pitcher. (While simultaneously sending the aforementioned Anderson to Triple-A Gwinnett.)

📝 More on Smith-Shawver: The youngster began the season with Atlanta and posted a 4.61 ERA over three starts. He’s started two games with Gwinnett since, allowing five earned runs in a total of 9⅓ innings.

BATTING AROUND

Bryce Elder got his act together after surrendering a first-inning three-run homer and Michael Harris plated the deciding runs in Monday’s series opener.

😯 But the real offensive story continues to be guys like Nick Allen, Alex Verdugo and Eli White. The trio accounted for seven of the Braves’ 14 hits. Allen and Verdugo drove in runs, too.

• With limited at-bats, none of them technically qualify for stats like batting average.
• But if they did, Verdugo would be leading the team — with Allen and White not far behind “official” leader Marcell Ozuna.

“Those guys have been doing a really good job for us,” manager Brian Snitker said of Allen and White batting at the bottom of the lineup.

“And that’s big, if you’re going to get everyone contributing. The guys up top feel like they don’t have to carry the load.”

JARRED JOINS GWINNETT

On the other side of things, there’s Jarred Kelenic.

A lightning rod among fans even before his lack of hustle triggered that whole Ronald Acuña Jr. social media ordeal, he’s now in Triple-A Gwinnett.

Kelenic’s struggles at the plate are no secret:

📉 Batting average: .167

📉 On-base percentage: .231

📉 Slugging percentage: .300

Perhaps he’ll be back at some point. But with Acuña due to return soon(ish), Rosario now on the roster, and Verdugo and White continuing to impress, it’s hard to see a direct path at the moment.

YOUR UNIQUE MEMORIES

On the heels of Saturday’s four-homer game by Arizona’s Eugenio Suarez, I asked y’all to share the coolest baseball moments you’ve experienced in person.

You did not disappoint.

• Louis witnessed Hank Aaron’s 715th homer!
• A couple of you said you attended the 1984 “bean brawl” game between the Braves and Padres. Seventeen ejections. Suspensions. Fines. Epic stuff. Here’s a video.
• A couple more were at Randy Johnson’s perfect game against the Braves in 2004.
• Reader Steve was a kid when he attended what’s still the longest doubleheader in baseball history.

But my favorite story comes from Ron (I have not independently verified, but who cares):

“Years ago in the Astrodome, they had a promotion. They would designate a player on the opposing team, and if he struck out with the stadium clock on an odd minute, it was free beer for the rest of the game.

“The night I was there to watch my Reds, Johnny Bench was the designee. In the 2nd inning — yes, the 2nd inning — he had an 0-2 count. He looked at the clock and saw it was on an even minute. He grinned, stepped out and waited till the clock hit the odd minute, stepped back in and promptly struck out.

“The stadium went wild. I don’t remember who won the game.”