SAN FRANCISCO – In a baseball season, there will be brutal losses. They are part of this lengthy grind. They sting, but they are inevitable.
Often, a team’s response is what matters most. You can learn a lot from it.
And the Braves have answered in a resounding way: After suffering a gut punch in Colorado, they have collected consecutive gritty wins in 10 innings over the Giants – Monday by a score of 1-0, and then Tuesday by a 4-3 score.
“It was another big one right there,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “...That’s a big win. If we’re gonna make a push and do anything, that’s kind of the way it starts happening. So that was good.”
In Atlanta’s latest victory at Oracle Park, Charlie Morton earned his 2,000th strikeout.
Five observations:
1. In the most important spots in a game, Travis d’Arnaud is a warrior. He will battle. He will stay alive. For a pitcher, the third strike never comes easy.
Why is this?
Morton had the perfect explanation.
“He’s very patient and he’s very quiet in his swing,” Morton said. “He kind of lulls you in. He’s not greedy. I don’t think you can really tell what he’s doing. I don’t think you can really tell what his intent is. I don’t know, he just lets the ball travel so far. It’s such a smooth swing. The pop off the bat, relative to what you see and in terms of effort, it’s really, honestly, incredible.
“And I think, too, if I’m pitching against Travy – here’s a guy that, you know, he’s a little bit older, mid-30s, catcher, he’s a little savvy. You know that, so it’s like, ‘Man, do you really wanna mess around with breaking balls against this guy? I’ll probably will sneak a couple heaters by this guy.’ And you can’t. I’ve seen a lot of pitchers get burned trying to sneak heaters by Travy.”
Randy Rodriguez was d’Arnaud’s latest victim. In the top of the 10th, with Luke Williams starting the inning at second base, Rodriguez got ahead of d’Arnaud, 0-2. Then d’Arnaud took two balls and fouled off two pitches. Then Rodriguez hurled a 96-mph sinker a tad up and a tad in – where he’d thrown two previous pitches in the at-bat.
D’Arnaud grounded a ball toward the right side. The second baseman dove, but it went off of him. Williams scored. The Braves led.
“It’s fun,” d’Arnaud said of those moments. “It’s what we live for to try to get ahead, especially in extra innings. … There, I was just trying to stay short and hit a ground ball. It luckily found a hole. That was it.”
From second base, this was Williams’ vantage point: “They were some nasty pitches, and he throws really hard, so for him to just battle and try to put the ball in play is huge.”
On Monday, d’Arnaud worked a great at-bat and eventually lined a sacrifice fly to right field to drive in the go-ahead run in the 10th inning.
What allows d’Arnaud to consistently come up big in these moments?
“I think just the experience,” Snitker said. “You know what, he didn’t get caught up in the moment. He understands how this thing works. There’s never any panic in an at-bat or when he’s playing.”
Closer Raisel Iglesias stranded the runner at second base in the bottom of the 10th for the second time in as many nights.
2. Morton’s milestone came on the seventh pitch in a battle between with Mike Yastrzemski in the sixth inning. Morton threw a backfoot curveball that Yastrzemski swung over.
“I’m grateful and thankful I was a part of it,” said d’Arnaud, who caught Morton. “Everybody in the dugout knew. I swear, everybody in the dugout came up to me (before it) and said, ‘Hey, he only has one more strikeout for it.’”
And with that 2000th strikeout, Morton joined an elite list of pitchers – one of which is Morton’s Braves teammate.
He’s one of seven active pitchers to reach the 2,000-strikeout mark. The others are Max Scherzer (3,405), Justin Verlander (3,393), Clayton Kershaw (2,961), Chris Sale (2,366), Gerrit Cole (2,204) and Lance Lynn (2,003). Morton could move up that list by passing Lynn this season.
Morton is the 89th pitcher all-time to record at least 2,000 strikeouts. Other names on the list range from Nolan Ryan and Randy Johnson to Tommy John and Cy Young.
“I called my wife because that was a big deal,” Morton said. “I met her in ‘06 and she’s been a rock in our family, in my career. I think more in that line of thinking – I’ve gotten to experience moments like that, right? That I’ve gotten to experience a lot of moments that I didn’t think I ever would have eight, nine, 10 years ago.”
Morton allowed two runs over six innings. He kept the Braves in the game.
And in the outing, he notched another accomplishment.
“It’s just a credit to Charlie,” Snitker said. “He (makes every start), you can count on him, you don’t worry about him. He takes the ball, and that’s huge, I think, for a starting pitcher. And the stuff’s really good still. I don’t know, Charlie may be throwing like that when he’s 50.”
3. To begin the bottom of the ninth inning, Patrick Bailey scorched a ball to center field. The hard liner screamed through the air as Eli White went back, back, back.
White made a smooth and acrobatic catch as he ran back toward the wall.
If he hadn’t caught it? Well, then the Giants would’ve had the winning run at second base against Dylan Lee – with no outs.
“It actually traveled a little bit further than I thought off the bat, and then I got about halfway to it, I knew there was gonna be a play at the wall, so I was getting prepared for that,” White said. “Just happy to come up with a big catch there in a big situation and help the team.”
Snitker started White in center field on Tuesday. It paid off big time.
Asked if he got butterflies when seeing the ball fly toward him in such a big spot, White said:
“I’m trying to stay as locked in as I can every pitch, so I’m anticipating a ball coming to me every pitch,” White said. “I try not to think about the situation so much, but obviously it’s there. But yeah, just excited to be able to make a cool catch there and help the team.”
4. Lefty Kyle Harrison had never faced the Braves. He pitched a decent game, but Atlanta managed three runs off of him over five innings.
One of them: d’Arnaud’s third-inning homer, which was his sixth blast in his past 14 games.
Another one: Ramón Laureano’s second-inning homer, which might be one reason the Braves should keep him around when they activate Michael Harris II on Wednesday.
Then there’s Jorge Soler, who began his latest stint with the Braves 4-for-24 over his first seven games after the trade.
Since then: 8-for-19, four homers, 10 RBIs and five walks.
On Tuesday, Soler smoked a run-scoring double off Harrison in the second inning. He’s driven in at least one run in four of his past five games. He has 10 RBIs in this stretch. He homered in three straight games – including two homers in one contest – to begin this span.
He’s provided Atlanta with the pop it desired when it acquired him. He’s also shown patience and taken his walks.
5. The Phillies continue to leave the door open for the Braves in the National League East standings. Will Atlanta take advantage? Time will tell.
But right now, it seems the opportunity is still there for the Braves.
After the Phillies lost to the Marlins at home on Tuesday, the Braves were only six games behind Philadelphia. And the two teams play three games at Truist Park next week, so Atlanta can make up more ground then.
Stat to know
4 - Morton has 2,000 strikeouts, but he didn’t strike out that many in a Braves uniform alone. Only four pitchers have tallied at least 2,000 strikeouts with the Braves: John Smoltz (3,011), Phil Niekro (2,912), Warren Spahn (2,493) and Tom Glavine (2,091).
Quotable
“I’m really grateful that I’ve gotten to experience a lot of what I have, considering the fact that I wasn’t sure I was even gonna be given the ball to start anymore after 2015. I got hurt pretty bad, I had surgery in ‘16, and I missed the whole year in ‘16. Since ‘16, I’ve just been kind of a different pitcher. It’s allowed me to pitch until I was 40 and to experience the moments that I have.”- Morton
Up next
On Wednesday, Braves right-hander Grant Holmes will pitch against the Giants, who’ll send left-hander Robbie Ray to the mound. The game starts at 9:45 p.m.
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