ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – In the first round of a showdown between baseball’s top two teams, the Braves and Rays – two of the sport’s most dangerous lineups – showed why they’ve both been so consistent.
Their pitching.
The Braves outlasted Tampa Bay, 2-1, in a duel between pitching staffs on Friday at Tropicana Park. The Braves set a record and handed the Rays their sixth straight loss.
Atlanta is 59-28. Tampa Bay is 57-34.
Five observations:
1. When Sean Murphy powered out a two-run home run to right field, it gave the Braves the lead – and a record.
The 2023 Braves have hit 167 home runs before the All-Star break, the most of any team in major-league history. They surpassed the 2019 Twins, who blasted 166 homers in the first half.
“To do something like that, everybody’s gotta chip in,” Murphy said.
Led by Matt Olson (29 homers) and Ozzie Albies (22), six Braves have at least 16 home runs, and three have at least 20. Atlanta is on pace for 311 home runs, which would be an MLB record for a single season.
Here’s what is impressive about the Braves’ record: Minnesota had 3,168 at-bats before the All-Star break in 2019. Murphy’s homer came on the Braves’ 2,968th at-bat of this first half.
Braves manager Brian Snitker will take the home runs, of course, but he’s not focused on specific records.
“I’m more proud of the fact of how (much) more complete our offense has been,” he said. “We’re limiting the strikeouts, we’re putting the ball in play better. The home runs are just a byproduct of good at-bats and making contact.”
2. Asked if his first-half performance met his expectations, Charlie Morton figuratively shrugged.
“All in all, I feel like I’m doing OK,” he said.
He wishes he could have a few pitches back. He would have hoped to avoid some of the walks. He wishes he could have been more efficient.
Morton is not one to brag about himself.
We’ll let Snitker and a teammate do it for him.
“He just keeps amazing me,” Snitker said. “The ball was coming out of his hand really good today. He’s just been solid. It’s just something else.”
“He’s different,” Murphy said. “I mean, you don’t see a lot of guys at (age) 39 still doing what he’s doing in pitching at the level he’s pitching at. Nice to be around him. They don’t come around too often.”
Morton, a former Ray, pitched at Tropicana Field for the first time since signing with the Braves. He held his former team to one run over 6 1/3 innings. He struck out six.
Morton will head into the break with a 3.43 ERA. That’s his fifth-best ERA in a first half in 16 major-league seasons.
If you told the Braves he would do this, they would’ve taken it, right?
“Absolutely,” Snitker said.
3. We talk a lot about the offense. This group deserves it.
But the Braves have stellar pitching. They are really deep.
After Morton exited, A.J. Minter recorded the final two outs of the seventh inning. Facing his former team, Nick Anderson tossed a scoreless eighth, working out of some trouble to do so. Raisel Iglesias worked around a two-out double to earn his 16th save.
In the fourth inning, Olson reached on an error. Then Murphy launched a two-run shot off Rays starter Tyler Glasnow.
Usually, you need more than two runs.
This time, those two were enough.
“That’s a good game to win,” Snitker said. “You’re gonna have games (like that) against a club like this.”
4. Murphy helped the cause behind the plate as he threw out two runners attempting to steal second – one in the third inning, another in the seventh.
“When runs are at a premium and the infield (plays) kind of fast – those second hops can get by an infielder – and anything can happen, (it’s important),” Snitker said of Murphy throwing out those runners. “Any time you get outs against this team, it’s big.”
Does Murphy prefer to hit a homer or catch a guy stealing?
“That’s a tough one,” he said. “I’d say throwing guys out. I like making it easy on my pitchers.”
5. The Braves have won 26 of 30 games since June 3. They have only lost five times since the start of June.
On Saturday, they’ll go for their 11th consecutive series victory.
Stat to know
4 - Since 2013, Morton is one of four pitchers age 39 and above to go into the break with a 3.43 ERA (or lower) across at least 96 innings pitched. Justin Verlander and Adam Wainwright did it last season, and Bartolo Colon did it in 2013 and 2016. John Smoltz (2007) was the last Braves pitcher to accomplish this.
Quotable
“That’s this lineup. It’s not the same guy every night. It doesn’t have to be. If it’s not your day, hopefully it’s somebody else’s and they pick up the slack.” - Murphy on Atlanta’s depth
Up next
On Saturday, Spencer Strider will pitch opposite Rays right-hander Taj Bradley. The game, which begins at 7:15 p.m., will be televised on FOX.
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