The Braves opened a pivotal three-game series against the Phillies with a 3-1 win at Truist Park. They trail the Phillies by six games in the National League East with six head-to-head meetings scheduled through Sept. 1.
Here are five takeaways from Tuesday:
1. Go figure that the Braves scored their first run thanks to Whit Merrifield, whom the Phillies discarded in July. The Braves added Merrifield as their every-day second baseman after Ozzie Albies’ injury. And he’s been impactful.
Merrifield hit .199 with a .572 OPS in 53 games for the Phillies, leading them to release him despite his $8 million contract. He’s hit .259 with an .800 OPS in 20 games with the Braves. He admitted that his two-hit performance Tuesday, which included a triple, was especially satisfying.
“To contribute and play well against a team that told you that you weren’t good enough to play for them, it feels good,” Merrifield said. “I’d be lying if I said it didn’t. I have no hard feelings over there at all. I truly don’t. It just didn’t work out. It didn’t seem like it was meant to be for whatever reason. I couldn’t really get comfortable playing over there. I was comfortable everywhere else in the city, with the guys. But whenever I would play, something was off.
“No hard feelings over there. But to have somebody tell you that you’re not good enough to play for this team, and then to play them and play well, it’s a good feeling.”
2. New third baseman Gio Urshela went 0-for-3 with a bases-loaded walk off Jose Alvarado in his team debut. The walk provided an insurance run in the eighth. Right fielder Ramon Laureano went 1-for-4 and snagged each of the three outs in the ninth.
Merrifield, Urshela and Laureano were released by their former clubs and found homes with the injury-plagued Braves.
“Good for them,” manager Brian Snitker said. “Guys who go through that, it just shows the grit and how guys love to play baseball. It doesn’t matter where they’re at. I have a lot of respect for guys like that who come in here and now are involved in this and helping us.”
3. Reynaldo Lopez, in his first start back from the injured list, earned his first double-digit strikeout showing of the season. He struck out 10 Phillies over five innings, allowing one run on five hits. He looked refreshed; his fastball averaged 96.4 mph, an improvement over his 95.4 season average.
It was Lopez’s first major-league outing since July 28. The converted reliever was showing signs of fatigue before his stint on the injured list (forearm). He made one rehab start before rejoining the rotation.
“I definitely felt refreshed,” Lopez said via team interpreter Franco Garcia. “I think that helped me out a little bit tonight and more so the time between actual outings. I feel like it allowed me the opportunity to fill up the tank a little more.”
The relievers following Lopez were flawless. Grant Holmes (two innings), Joe Jimenez and Raisel Iglesias combined for four perfect innings with three strikeouts.
4. Designated hitter Marcell Ozuna has been the Braves’ offensive MVP throughout the season, and he came through again on Tuesday. His 37th homer snapped a 1-1 tie in the sixth, giving the Braves an advantage they’d never relinquish. He hammered a middle-placed fastball from Phillies ace Zack Wheeler.
“He’s been an absolute godsend to have on the team,” Lopez said. “Knock on wood that he stays healthy and continues doing what he does. Just having him on the team as a teammate and the way he’s swinging the bat, he’s just been so huge for us.”
The triple-crown watch is well underway for Ozuna. His homer total is two behind Shohei Ohtani for the National League lead. His .309 average and 94 RBIs lead the NL. The next highest in those respective categories are Luis Arraez (.303) and Ohtani (88).
Ozuna is also three home runs from a second consecutive 40-homer campaign. He’d join Hank Aaron, Eddie Mathews and Andruw Jones as the only players to achieve such in franchise history. Jones is the only one to do so for the Atlanta Braves.
5. Right fielder Jorge Soler, sidelined since Aug. 14 (hamstring), pinch hit in the eighth. He drew a five-pitch walk and Adam Duvall replaced him as the runner. The Braves don’t anticipate him returning to the lineup until later this week.
“He’s going to run the bases (Wednesday) and we’ll just see,” Snitker said. “Everything feels good right now, but I don’t know. I can’t even speculate when it’s going to be.”
Stat to know
5-2 -- Despite trailing Philadelphia in the standings since early May, the Braves have won five of seven against the Phillies thus far.
Quotable
“We’re going through a really weird time right now. It just feels like someone comes off the IL, then someone goes on it. Someone else comes off, someone else goes on. So it’s really strange but there’s nothing we can do. As a team we continue to move forward and we go out with the conviction to win every game out there.” – Lopez
Up next
The Braves and Phillies face off again Wednesday with dueling co-aces: Max Fried (7-7, 3.62) versus Aaron Nola (11-6, 3.45).
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