Freddie Freeman and Ronald Acuna will spend plentiful years winning games for the Braves. They did so again Sunday, aided by a second baseman’s miscue.
It wasn’t just a regular 5-1 victory, or just a standard series win against a mediocre team, in this case the Pirates; with the Red Sox coming to town, and a west-coast trip days away, it was a necessity. The postseason-hopeful Braves won’t see many porous clubs the rest of the year. They needed to maximize the chances they have remaining.
And so they kept the game manageable, seeking one of their patented late-inning, intrepid windups. As has often been the case with these Braves, that moment came. This time, courtesy of an error.
A pitchers’ duel staged a 1-1 situation entering the Braves’ half of the eighth. Ronald Acuna began with a single, his third hit of the day. The Braves went small-ball from there, using Ender Inciarte’s bunt to shift their star lead-off man into scoring position.
Then came Freeman, whose MVP candidacy, and team's playoff hopes, reside on his turnaround from an elongated slump. He took matters into his own hands Saturday with a go-ahead RBI-double. This was his chance for a follow-up.
He scooted a hard-hit grounder to second baseman Kevin Newman, who botched the play and allowed the ball to slip through him. Acuna flew around the bases for the go-ahead run. Ozzie Albies went on to plate another with a bloop hit, while a wild pitch and tough-to-field Dansby Swanson grounder added more insurance.
“That was just a good series win,” manager Brian Snitker said.
Acuna’s second-half surge will be one to remember. After Pirates starter Nick Kingham dealt him a high-and-inside fastball, Acuna belted a 109-mph homer on the next. It was his seventh shot to open a game – all in the second half – which tied Marquis Grissom’s franchise record (1996).
“I’m just trying to do my part by coming out with the same energy and same enthusiasm,” Acuna said through an interpreter. “Thankfully, the results have been there.”
Snitker might’ve secured Acuna’s rookie of the year award when he moved the 20-year-old to leadoff coming out of the All-Star break. Acuna has since hit .346 with 16 home runs, 31 RBIs and 36 runs scored while adding nine steals in 42 games.
Julio Teheran began with a lackluster first, walking two and allowing Colin Moran’s hit to plate a run. He smoothly sailed from there, allowing two additional hits in his first six innings. Moran got him again in the seventh with a lead-off single, but Teheran induced a double play then struck out Kevin Newman.
“His command was really good,” Snitker said. “He was hitting on everything. The first inning he got in trouble, but he was mixing things up. ... He’s reinvented himself over the course of the year.”
It was as sharp as Teheran’s looked all season, the first inning notwithstanding. He allowed just the one run on four hits through his seven-inning stanza. He’s given the Braves seven frames in three of his past four starts.
The righty’s rise back to relevancy has been a boon as the Braves try to pull away in the National League East. Since getting shelled in Miami on July 24, he’s allowed more than three runs in a start once – his last outing – and allowed one or no runs in three of those seven starts.
Opponents enter the day hitting .203 against Teheran, the sixth-lowest result in the majors. He was allowing a career-best 6.52 hits per nine innings, though walks and homers marginalized the miniscule average.
With the rise of Mike Foltynewicz and Sean Newcomb, alongside several blossoming arms and the resurgent Anibal Sanchez, Teheran is competing for a spot in the postseason rotation. His September audition couldn’t have started much better.
“My last four starts I’ve been feeling really good,” Teheran said. “I have all my pitches. That’s been the difference. ... It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish. And now is really important and I feel happy with the way I’ve been throwing. I know they need me to give them a chance to win.”
Snitker understandably pinch-hit for Teheran in the seventh, when the Braves had Albies and Swanson at second and third, respectively, with two outs. He turned to the slumping Adam Duvall, whose strikeout preserved the 1-1 impasse.
Duvall was brought in to provide pop, but thus far his Braves tenure has been unmemorable. The theoretical slugger is 4-for-39 with no extra-base hits or RBIs since the Braves acquired him in late July. He’d hit 15 homers with Cincinnati after hammering 64 across the past two seasons.
He hasn’t adapted to the bench/pinch-hitter role with the Braves. The team has more options with expanded rosters, and Duvall’s play over the final few weeks could not only determine his fate on a postseason roster, but potentially if he’ll be retained in the offseason.
Meanwhile, the second-place Phillies were bombarded by the Cubs, 8-1, to lose two of three to the N.L.’s best team. Braves players watched and cheered in the clubhouse prior to the game.
The Braves hold a four-game advantage in the N.L. East, with seven of their final 10 coming against the chief opposition.
“Every game from now is important and that’s how we feel,” Teheran said. “This stretch, we’re trying to give everything we have. All the guys have been great. The starting pitching’s getting better. That’s how we want to finish the last stretch of the season.”
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