Everybody knows the Braves have built around pitching for decades. The central part of their latest rebuild involved waiting for prospects to arrive. They’re here now. We already know about lefty Max Fried. There were more questions about rookie right-hander Ian Anderson.
Anderson’s answer is two scoreless starts in his first two postseason games. He was fantastic in the wild-card series against the Reds last week. He gave the Braves what they needed Wednesday in their 2-0 victory over the Marlins in the National League Division Series.
The Braves won the first two games of the best-of-five series. They’ve won four postseason games despite getting only one of their customary offensive eruptions. They did it with two strong starts from Anderson (23 years old) and one from Fried (26).
Anderson held the Marlins to three hits over 5-2/3 innings in Game 2. He struck out eight and walked one. This postseason Anderson has delivered 11-2/3 scoreless innings with five hits, 17 strikeouts and three walks.
The Braves need to win one of three games to close out the Marlins. They can do that with their bats and bullpen even if they don’t get another quality start. The Braves have a chance to sweep because Anderson again performed superbly under pressure.
Anderson got in trouble early, as is his custom. He wiggled out of it, which also has become a trend. After a two-out single by Jesus Aguilar and a walk to Brian Anderson, Garrett Cooper flied out on the first pitch.
Ian Anderson retired 14 of 16 batters faced after that first-inning escape.
“It doesn’t seem like the moment never matters to him,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “He just keeps pitching and trusting his stuff.”
Anderson’s day ended with a 10-pitch faceoff against Aguliar, the designated hitter.
The previous batter, Jon Berti, reached on a single. Aguilar fell behind 1-2 in the count but kept fouling off pitches. He got a piece of six of Anderson’s pitches during the plate appearance. Anderson’s pitch count was climbing near 100.
Anderson finally put Aguilar away with an 87 mph change-up. It was at knee level before sharply dropping near the plate.
“I think I expended all the tricks I had to get him,” Anderson said. “He’s kind of pesky when it comes to two strikes.”
Darren O’Day replaced Anderson and hit third baseman Brian Anderson with a pitch. He walked Garrett Cooper to load the bases. The next batter, Matt Joyce, helped O’Day by swinging at the first pitch. The weak ground out to first base ended the inning. Three more Braves relievers kept the Marlins down.
The Braves are the third MLB team in history to pitch shutouts in three of their first four games. The 1905 New York (now San Francisco) Giants did it during baseball’s dead-ball era. The Braves and the 1966 Orioles achieved the feat in contemporary times. Both did it with young starting pitchers.
The Orioles had three shutouts in the 1966 World Series with Jim Palmer (20), Wally Bunker (21) and Dave McNally (23). The trio each pitched nine innings. It’s a different game now. The expectation is for starters to pitch effectively long enough to turn it over to top bullpen pitchers who are better than ever.
Fried did it in his first postseason start. Ian Anderson’s done it twice in his first two postseason games. Fried gave up four runs in four innings Tuesday, but it had been so long since he was knocked out early, it’s reasonable to consider it a one-off.
The common thread for those three starts is catcher Travis d’Arnaud.
“I can’t say enough how good Travis has been back there,” Anderson said. “Putting down fingers (for pitch calls) and helping me get through games has been huge.”
Marlins hitters had trouble with Anderson’s change-up. It’s a tough pitch on its own. It’s enhanced by being paired with a 95 mph that looked particularly lively in this game. It’s a good sign for Anderson’s future that he’s been so good while relying heavily on those two pitches.
Now the Braves turn to Wright, 25. They demoted him to Gwinnett in August. Wright improved when he returned to the big leagues nearly a month later. He hasn’t pitched in a game since Sept. 25 because he Braves didn’t need him in the wild-card round.
Four Braves relievers have pitched in back-to-back days: O’Day, Tyler Matzek, Will Smith and Mark Melancon. Snitker noted that all those pitchers were efficient in their appearances, so he could use them in Game 3. But he also must be mindful that this series could last three more games.
The chances of that probably go down significantly if Wright can be effective. He pitched at least six innings in his past three starts.
“I’m super-excited for him to get out there and watch him do his thing,” Anderson said. “He’s a super-smart pitcher. He knows what he needs to do.”
I don’t believe the Braves have enough pitching to make it to the World Series. It’s one thing to beat the Reds in a best-of-three series and the Marlins in a best-of-five. Neither team hits much. It’s something else to get win a best-of-seven series against the Dodgers or Padres. They are among the few teams that can slug with the Braves.
We’ll see what happens. Already, the Braves know they have three-fifths of their rotation set for 2021. Anderson, Fried and Mike Soroka (out with an injury) are good, young pitchers. They also are a good mix.
Anderson is the strikeout guy. Fried is a lefty who gets hitters to chase his big curveball out of the zone. Soroka has an advanced repertoire of pitches that hitters rarely square up. One good veteran starter would give the Braves a deep starting staff for 2021.
Trevor Bauer will be the best pitcher available on the market. He might win the NL CY Young Award. He shut down the mighty Braves lineup in the wild-card opener with 12 strikeouts. Bauer normally would be out of the Braves' price range, but he’s said he plans to sign one-year deals as a free agent.
Maybe Bauer won’t stick to that pledge once teams start offering big money for long-term deals. The Braves don’t do that. But assuming Bauer signs for a year, would the Braves splurge to sign him? They signed Dallas Keuchel for $13 million in June 2019 and Cole Hamels (also injured) for $18 million in December.
Anyway, that’s for the offseason. The Braves are still playing in October. It will be fun to see how far they go with their good, young pitchers.
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