Well, there's not much to say about this lineup. David Peterson throws with his left hand. The Braves don't have Lane Thomas on hand anymore, so it's basically your standard lineup with Sean Murphy and Ha-Seong Kim bringing up the rear.
This is the same lineup the Braves used in what ended up being that 12-2 game against the Phillies. Given that Peterson probably won't last long given his inefficiency, the Braves may be hoping for a similar result.
I guess I'll talk about Ozzie Albies. He's hitting cleanup for the 21st time this season. His season is basically tanking. He started out with a near-.400 wOBA in April while running an average xwOBA, had a poor May, an okay-ish June, and then ran another huge xwOBA overperformance on a bad xwOBA in July. Since then, it's been absolutely grim. In August, he had a .275 wOBA and .283 xwOBA. In September, he's down to a .212 wOBA and .218 xwOBA. As has also been the case for a while, Albies is no longer terrorizing lefties. In his first seven seasons, he had five where he hit lefties super-well, and one of the ones where he didn't was a tiny-sample 2020 where he was hurt. In both 2024 and 2025, his xwOBA against lefties dwindled to an okay .325ish. This year? He's down to .282. He's only posted an xwOBA at or above .300 against lefties this season in April and July. In September so far, it's .171. There's not really that much time for Albies to change the script of his season, but this is a really disappointing follow-up to 2025 and it's going to be the third straight year where Albies turns in an underwhelming season.
Anyway, should we do batter versus pitcher while waiting for the Cubs to post their lineup? Sure, I guess. These guys are very familiar with Peterson, after all. Amazingly, neither Drake Baldwin nor Mauricio Dubon have ever faced Peterson, and Kim only has four PAs against him, but everyone else has somewhere between 12 and 30. Ronald Acuña Jr. and Matt Olson have destroyed Peterson in their careers, and Riley's been fine, but everyone else has struggled a bit. Add this all up, and you get a .318 wOBA and .347 xwOBA in 141 career head-to-head PAs.
As for the Cubs, well…

#peterson #woba #well

ATLANTA (AP) — Ronald Acuña Jr. homered to spark an eight-run fourth inning and Tyler Mahle turned in another stellar outing to lead the Atlanta Braves to their second straight victory over the Philadelphia Phillies, 12-2 on Saturday night.
The Braves had to rally three times in 11 innings to win the series opener between the two top NL East teams. This one was a lot easier.
Acuña hit a towering shot that barely cleared the wall in front of the Phillies bullpen off Brooks Raley (5-7), who took the loss for the second straight night. Acuña tacked on a run-scoring single to close out the big inning.
Philadelphia was one out from escaping the inning with no further damage. Ozzie Albies walked and Michael Harris II singled before the Phillies, going with a bullpen game after Jesús Luzardo was scratched with a tight shoulder, called in Grant Holman for his first big league appearance of the season.
Mauricio Dubón had a two-run single, Drake Baldwin brought in two more runs with a double off the wall, and some sloppy play by the Phillies led to five unearned runs in the fourth. Bryson Stott had a throwing error on a routine play that would've ended the inning, and another run scored on a wild pitch.

#philadelphia #fourth #night #wall

After an epic 11-inning win Friday night against the Phillies, the Braves were hoping to finish them off in the division race. They got a bit of a boost from the Phillies scratching Jesus Luzardo with long-running shoulder soreness.
Tyler Mahle cruised through the first two hitters before Bryce Harper hit a monster homer and took a comical amount of time rounding the bases, clearly hitting back at the controversy from Zach Wheeler's comments about Ronald Acuna's home run celebrations last week. The Phillies had to be feeling good with a 1-0 lead for a couple innings there, until the Braves essentially ended the game with 8 runs in the fourth inning. Ronald Acuna kicked things off with a towering homer (and a normal home run trot).
La Bestia mode activated 🔥#LocalFordDealer | ronaldacunajr24 pic.twitter.com/blKPAhoG0w
The Braves then got a walk, single, single, single, error, wild pitch, walk, double, and single to score another 7 runs. Drake Baldwin provided the double before things got all the way back around to Acuna for the last single, bringing home the last run of the inning.
Mahle continued to cruise after that Harper homer, finishing 7.0 innings of 1-run ball with no walks, even though he only had 7 whiffs and 3 strikeouts. The Braves added another run on in the sixth with a Ronald ABS strikeout-turned-walk, an error on an Olson ground ball, and an Ozzie sac fly. The Phillies got one back with a solo homer from Crawford in the eighth against Brent Suter. The Braves got another 3 runs against the position-player pitcher for Philly in the eighth, as Kiersey singled, Albies doubled, and Harris hit a homer off the right field foul pole. Suter finished off the Phillies in the ninth, as the Braves only needed to throw Mahle and Suter on the night. The Phillies' bullpen is in rough shape on the other side, after the 11-inning game Friday and the blowout bullpen game they suffered today.

#Phillies #home

The Braves are rotating their lineup a bit to mitigate the Phillies' ability to play the matchup game. Instead of Harris batting cleanup behind Olson, Albies bats cleanup between the two as a deterrent against lefty relievers. Additionally, Mauricio Dubon replaces Mike Yastrzemski in left field.
Home cookin’ pic.twitter.com/esdWHepFee
Meanwhile, the Phillies shuffle their outfielders, facing the righty Mahle instead of the lefty Sale.
Saturday night in Atlanta#RingTheBell pic.twitter.com/G0Bj5r02hy
Game Time: Saturday, September 12, 7:15 p.m. ET

#Braves

ATLANTA (AP) — Drake Baldwin doubled to center field in the 11th inning to score Ha-Seong Kim from first base and the Atlanta Braves beat the Philadelphia Phillies 6-5 on Friday night in the opening game of a key NL East series.
The first-place Braves extended their lead over the Phillies to five games. The teams split a four-game series in Philadelphia that began last Friday.
Luis Arraez's single to left field off Didier Fuentes (7-2) in the 11th drove in designated runner Garrett Stubbs to give Philadelphia a 5-4 lead. Kim's single off Brooks Raley (5-6) in the bottom of the inning drove in Ozzie Albies to tie it. Baldwin followed with the winning double.
Phillies right-hander Jonathan Bowlan blew a 3-2 lead in the ninth. Bowlan gave up a one-out single to Mike Yastrzemski. Pinch-runner DaShawn Keirsey Jr., who was recalled before the game, scored from first on Sean Murphy's single up the middle and center fielder Derek Hill's fielding error.
Aaron Nola gave up homers to Matt Olson in the first and Austin Riley in the seventh. Braves left-hander Chris Sale allowed three runs on only three hits in seven innings but struggled with two outs in the second. Edmundo Sosa singled before Sale walked Bryan De La Cruz and hit J.T. Realmuto with a pitch to load the bases. Derek Hill doubled off the center-field wall to drive in three runs.

#lead

The lineups are out for tonight's series-opening showdown between the Atlanta Braves and the Philadelphia Phillies. There's no major shakeup but there is a return to the lineup for one familiar face after he started Thursday's contest on the bench.
Ozzie Albies is back in the starting lineup for the Braves. Here's how the rest of Atlanta's lineup is looking:
Sale takes the mound tonight at TruistPark 💪 pic.twitter.com/sZRngGjbvQ
Ozzie has hit .249/.304/.411 so far this season with a wOBA of .311 and a wRC+ of 95. His big triple against the Rays on Thursday helped push Atlanta past Tampa Bay and gave them what could amount to being a very crucial win if all continues to go well for the Braves as far as this particular series is concerned.
Outside of that, there are no major changes from yesterday and in fact, this is the same group of nine batters that squared off against Aaron Nola last week. The bottom of the order is slightly different but the players remain the same. For what it's worth, Ronald Acuña Jr. has an OPS of 1.076 against Nola in 56 pat-bats. Austin Riley has done a similar level of damage as well with an OPS of 1.111 over 62 ABs. Mike Yastrzemski and Drake Baldwin have both been successful as well (1.046 and 1.056 OPS, respectively) against Nola but they both have much smaller sample sizes (16 and 8 ABs, respectively) to go with. Let's see if that turns into a factor during tonight's contest.

#lineup #major

ATLANTA (AP) — The Tampa Bay Rays were prevented from possibly becoming the first team to clinch a playoff berth when Martín Pérez threw seven scoreless innings and Austin Riley's run-scoring single in the eighth inning gave Atlanta its first lead of the series in the Braves' 3-1 win Thursday.
Seeking its first division ****** le since 2021, Tampa Bay entered with a four-game AL East lead and would have clinched no worse than a wild card with a victory and a loss by Texas to Seattle or the Chicago White Sox to Pittsburgh.
Riley's hit came after pinch-hitter Ozzie Albies' had his first triple of the season, a drive against Kevin Kelly (6-4). Light-htting Ha-Seong Kim tacked on a two-run single for the offensively struggling Braves that proved crucial when Victor Mesa Jr. led off the ninth with a homer against Raisel Iglesias.
Iglesias bounced back to get the final three outs for his 32nd save in 35 chances for the Braves, who began the day with a three-game NL East lead.
Didier Fuentes (6-2) pitched a scoreless eighth for the win, which sent the Braves into an important series against second-place Philadelphia with a big lift.

#Braves #tampa

It really just feels like each series the Atlanta Braves have been in lately has been like them leaving a snake pit for a lion's den only to realize that they've stepped into a piranha's pond and escaped that just to find out that the dry land was quicksand. "I don't know how much more battle-tested we need to be," quipped Walt Weiss when he was asked by the media during Tuesday's pregame press conference about the tough schedule that the Braves have been dealing with as of late — and still have to navigate going forward.
Indeed, one of the takeaways from this patch is that the Braves will have faced some of the toughest teams that baseball currently has to offer once they eventually reach the Postseason and they should be more-than-ready to handle whatever's in front of them. With that being said, the Braves had to deal with another serious test in the form of the Tampa Bay Rays and once the smoke cleared, it was less about acing the test and more like simply doing enough to pass the test. Did Atlanta manage that? Let's get into it.
This one was competitive for two innings, as the Braves matched Junior Caminero's two-out dinger off of AJ Smith-Shawver in the first inning with a run of their own in the bottom half of that frame. The deadlock didn't last long at all, as the Rays made the third inning a long one for Smith-Shawver. AJSS was one out away from potentially putting two outs on the board against the Rays in that inning. Instead, Liam Hicks sent one flying into the Georgia night sky for a two-run shot. Smith-Shawver was one out away from keeping it at 3-1 before Victor Mesa Jr. hit a bouncer that eluded the glove of Ozzie Albies and dribbled into the infield for an RBI single that made it 4-1.
AJ Smith-Shawver was only able to make it through 3.1 innings with those four runs allowed, but credit is due to Brent Suter for going 3.2 innings while only giving up a single run while he was out there. Elieser Hernández wasn't as fortunate, as he surrendered two runs across his two innings of work and then got the DFA treatment once the next morning rolled around. It really felt like the Rays were either ****** ing and dunking or hitting moonshots, there was no in-between in this one.
Meanwhile, a nasty trend for the Braves was emerging while they were on the mound. It's not particularly shocking that Freddy Peralta ended up going six innings with just one run allowed since he'd done pretty well in two previous starts against Atlanta with the Mets. It wasn't shocking either to see the Rays bullpen clamp down on the Braves they did on Tuesday, either. What was shocking is that the Braves came out of this game with 11 batted ****** that were at least 95-mph that ended up turning into outs. Folks, that's tough!

#Braves #smith #shawver #going

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Ronald Acuña Jr. hit a tying three-run homer, Austin Riley added a go-ahead RBI triple and the Braves used a late rally to defeat the Philadelphia Phillies 5-4 Sunday, extending their lead in the NL East to five games.
Acuña hit a 100.5-mph fastball off Phillies reliever Alex McFarlane deep into the right field seats in the top of the eighth inning to tie the score 4. It was home run No. 16 this season for Acuña, and it was the seventh consecutive fastball over 100 mph thrown to him by McFarlane.
After getting the first out of the inning, Mike Yastrzemski singled and Drake Baldwin doubled ahead of Acuña's homer.
McFarlane hadn't allowed a run since Aug. 11 — the only run he allowed since being called up in July.
In the ninth inning, Ozzie Albies legged out a double off Phillies closer Jhoan Duran (2-5) and Riley followed with a triple off the centerfield fence, giving the Braves the lead.

#Braves #homer #ahead

Every baseball fan is familiar with the scam known as the shell game— after all, it's present, in more innocuous form, in the cap shuffle ubiquitous to scoreboards. Tonight Zack Wheeler offered the visiting Braves a shell game, tempting them with three baserunners through three at-bats… but when the Braves selected their shell, there weren't very many runs underneath.
The start was rather subpar for the home crowd, with Wheeler allowing a pair of singles to the first two Braves, then walking Matt Olson to load the bases with none away. But a pop fly and a strikeout (aided by a canny ABS challenge from J.T. Realmuto) put him just a single out away from pulling off the great escape. Ozzie Albies flew out to center, and the Braves trudged back to the dugout with the dreaded ****** LETIGER (No Outs, Bases Loaded, Ending in Team Incapable of Getting Easy Runs, it's a real term) nipping at their heels.
But the Phillies would give Atlanta starter Martin Pérez a rougher start. Kyle Schwarber and Trea Turner worked walks to start off the game, with the former dashing for third on a fly out from Bryce Harper, and slipping right past the tag. A single to right from Luis Arraez scored him, and the bases were then loaded on a walk of Alec Bohm. Realmuto walked to bring in a run (an ABS challenge on ball four proved fruitless for the visitors). The inning ended when Ronald Acuña Jr, looking truly superb, leapt into the air to turn a line drive from Bryson Stott into out number three.
Wheeler's second inning of work was a far smoother affair, with three up and three down. Pérez could not say the same. Derek Hill lined a ball to right, and Acuña suddenly looked far less superb, stumbling and allowing Hill to reach third. He then scored when Matt Olson bobbled a grounder at first.
The roller coaster ride that is Ronald then took another sudden swerve in the top of the third as he sent a Wheeler sweeper deep, deep into the left field seats. But the Phillies were certainly not inclined to let themselves be outslugged in their own ballpark: in the bottom of the fourth, Schwarber knocked a Pérez pitch over the fence in right. Two more hits, both with two outs, ensued, and Pérez's night ended.

#wheeler #start #matt

The Braves will have their hands full at the plate in Friday night's opener of the four-game series in Philadelphia against Phillies ace Cristopher Sánchez.
Putting their best foot forward, the Braves have Ozzie Albies hitting above Matt Olson in the three-hole in the lineup, have Lane Thomas hitting fifth and holding down left field and are starting Sean Murphy behind the plate for the fourth time in five games to maximize Atlanta's ability against a strong left-handed arm.
Ha-Seong Kim also gets the start at shortstop as Mauricio Dubón makes a rare start in center and gives Michael Harris II, who doesn't have the best track record against Sánchez, a night out of the starting lineup.
Sale gets the start! pic.twitter.com/bp2JrR8Pwb
There are no real surprises in the Phillies lineup. Kyle Schwarber is back at DH for this game after playing first base on Wednesday to allow Alec Bohm to get an off day. Bohm is back at first and hitting fifth in the order.

#start #plate

WASHINGTON (AP) — Yohandy Morales homered in his first major league game and Jared Simpson earned the win in relief in his own debut, helping the Washington Nationals beat the Atlanta Braves 9-5 on Tuesday night.
The Nationals called up Morales and Simpson before the game, with major league rosters expanding from 26 to 28. After striking out his first time up, Morales hit a solo shot in the third inning. Simpson (1-0) entered in the fifth with Washington up 5-2 and induced a double play and a flyout after inheriting a first-and-second, ****** ody-out situation.
Then he worked two more perfect innings.
The 24-year-old Morales, who hit 25 homers for Triple-A Rochester this year, also singled and doubled in an impressive debut.
AJ Smith-Shawver (0-1) allowed five runs and six hits in four innings. Ozzie Albies and Michael Harris II homered for the Braves, whose lead over Philadelphia atop the NL East dropped to 3 1/2 games, with the Phillies playing at Arizona later Tuesday.

#washington #first #nationals #major

The Dodgers saw another Atlanta Braves comeback against Tanner Scott on Wednesday, this time walking them off in the bottom of the ninth in a 6-5 final score.
Roki Sasaki was one strike away from completing a perfect bottom of the first inning, but Matt Olson attacked a low slider and struck the foul pole to put the Braves on top for a second consecutive game. Sasaki promptly allowed two consecutive two-out baserunners, but he was able to escape further damage by getting a weak groundout from Ozzie Albies.
The Dodgers had their second leadoff extra-base hit over their last three innings, as Tommy Edman led of the top of the second with a double to right center field. A.J. Smith-Shawver managed to get two consecutive outs, but after a walk to Teoscar Hernández, Hunter Feduccia kept his solid month of August going with an opposite field single to left field, plating Edman and tying the game.
Freddie Freeman made it three leadoff extra-base over the Dodgers' last four innings with a double to begin the top of the third. Smith-Shawver once again retired the next two hitters after being down in the count 2-0, but Edman decided to take the 2-1 pitch for a called strike 1. That decision paid off, as Edman turned on the very next pitch to right field, scraping the outfield wall and giving the Dodgers their first lead of the series. It was Edman's second home run from the left side of the plate and his fourth away from home.
Tommy Tanks! pic.twitter.com/tiVSFph6TP

#Dodgers #edman #Braves #shawver

Braves might have a major lineup problem that could end their season originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
The Atlanta Braves just had a brutal stretch of games where they allowed the Philadelphia Phillies to make up significant ground in the NL East.
Heading into games on Wednesday, August 26, the Braves were just 4.5 games up on the Phillies. With a month to go and seven games against the Phillies, that's plenty of time for the Braves to lose their lead.
If that were to happen, it might not be due to the starting rotation, as many fans would believe after the trade deadline. Instead, as Bleacher Report's Kerry Miller highlighted, it could be their lineup, with "too many holes," that causes the team's regression.
"Atlanta Braves: Too Many Holes in the Lineup," Miller writes. "During the 45-21 start to the season, the Braves offense was relentless, averaging 5.2 runs per game. But since then, Drake Baldwin, Ronald Acuna Jr., Ozzie Albies, and especially Dominic Smith have all regressed, while 'Atlanta shortstop' has remained a season-long disaster."

#sporting

ATLANTA, GA - MAY 06: Ozzie Albies #1 reacts with Raisel Iglesias #26 of the Atlanta Braves following the 5-4 victory over the Baltimore Orioles at Truist Park on May 6, 2023 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Todd Kirkland/Getty Images) Getty
Atlanta Braves closer Raisel Iglesias entered Tuesday's game against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Truist Park with Atlanta leading 4-3 in the ninth inning.
Iglesias gave up a leadoff triple to Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani, putting the tying run on third base.
The Braves right-hander proceeded to strike out first baseman Freddie Freeman and induce a Mookie Betts groundout, respectively. Iglesias intentionally walked Max Muncy before getting Tommy Edman to fly out to end the game.
Braves star second baseman Ozzie Albies commented on Iglesias' heroics after the game.

#getty

In the midst of a slump, especially at the plate, the Braves were hoping that Tyler Mahle could delicer another strong start to help the Braves tie up the series in Minneapolis.
There were 5 batted ****** over 100 MPH across both teams in the first inning, but two of the three against Mahle produced two runs, on a loud Jeffers double and a mammoth Bell homer. After that, Mahle generally struggled to miss bats, but didn't give up much loud contact and was extremely efficient, needing only 76 pitches to complete 6.2 innings, keeping the Twins at just the 2 runs with a little help from Dylan Dodd to strand a batter in the seventh. Only 3 strikeouts and 8 whiffs are well off of Mahle's previous two outings, but
The offense was characteristically quiet with very few baserunners until a Drake Baldwin homer broke the shutout in the sixth.
Harris and Albies singled with two outs in the frame as well, but the Braves were unable to tie up the game, as the Twins went to their bullpen. The offense had nothing going in the seventh or eighth and Dylan Dodd gave way to Didier Fuentes in the eighth with a runner on first. Didier left a couple of pitches over the heart of the plate and the Twins took them for a single and a double, tacking on a big two insurance runs for a 4-1 lead heading into the ninth. Michael Harris led off the ninth with a double, but the Braves were unable to do anything else in the inning.
This continues a string of games during which the offense has generally not been good enough. Other than Matt Olson, none of their hitters are performing particularly up to their standards at the moment and the team is just not playing well. They built quite a cushion early in the season, but this next stretch of games is one that could turn that around quickly if they don't step it up. Join us tomorrow at 1:40 PM ET, as the Braves look to salvage this series in the first of four consecutive day games.

#runs #double #games #dylan

I'd say "stop me if you heard this one before," but you can't stop me, because I have a recap to write. The Braves fell behind early, and didn't hit any homers, losing a close-ish game on the margins to the Twins. When you don't hit homers, you need BABIP, and when you don't get BABIP, chances are you're going to lose. That's pretty much what happened on Monday night at Target Field.
This game was a weird one in many ways. After a 45-minute rain delay, the Braves grinded Bailey Ober for 26 pitches, but ultimately came up short. Both Drake Baldwin and Michael Harris II singled, but Mauricio Dubon fouled out weakly to right on the eighth pitch he saw from Ober. Then, the Twins pulled off some high-wire only-in-baseball garbage, aided by Martin Perez' inability to keep the ball in the zone. Look, I'll just post the snip from the Baseball Savant gamefeed:
Basically, a soft double, two walks, a bloop double that basically kissed the chalk that no one was able to run down, a very soft bloop, and then a perfectly-placed slow roller. Put that together, and it's four runs. Yeah, Perez shouldn't be walking two guys in an inning if he's not going to strike anyone out, but… help us out a bit, BABIP gods, eh?
They would not. The funny thing is, the Twins didn't manage to get much of anything going the rest of the way, but neither did the Braves. Perez basically cruised until the fourth, when the Twins managed two hard liners, but Ryan Jeffers had a weak flyout to strand them. Perez completed five innings with a 3/2 K/BB ratio — no walks after those two to the second and third batters he faced. Victor Mederos had a 1-2-3 sixth, and then Tyler Kinley came on (white flag?), hit a batter, walked another, and gave way to Ray Kerr, making his first MLB appearance since June 15, 2024. Kerr threw literally one pitch, a down-the-middle sinker to Kody Clemens, which turned into a groundout. For the eighth, the Braves left Kerr in the game, and somehow, the Twins loaded the bases with none out again (somehow equals a hit-by-pitch, a single, and a bunt that Kerr threw too high for Ozzie Albies to flag down at first and still touch the base). But, despite me looking very askance at the Braves for deciding to throw Kerr in for an up-down in a close game while still recovering from Tommy John Surgery, he somehow got out of it with no runs scoring, thanks to two pop-outs and a groundout.
That was the pitching slate for Atlanta; the hitting slate was a lot more frustrating. The Braves made Ober throw a ton of pitches, a la the first inning, but to little avail the first two times through the order. After that first inning, they got a leadoff single in the second and a two-out walk in the third, but didn't do anything with either. They finally broke through in the fifth: Austin Riley singled to start the frame, and Drake Baldwin pulled a double down the right-field line. Ronald Acuña Jr. got a fastball down the pipe on 2-1 at a sad 85.6 mph and yanked it down the left-fiel

I hope you all will forgive me for spending a portion of my Saturday mornings sorting through various somewhat bleak baseball things in preparation for the coming recap. For instance, today I found myself roaming around looking at the recent game logs for Harrison Grant Holmes and comparing them those of Eduardo Rodriguez (Holmes had a better run recently, at least until today), and then looking at how the Braves as a team hit versus left-handed pitching (10th in the majors, as opposed to 8th vs. right-handers). The Diamondbacks, incidentally, are 2nd in the majors facing lefties, at least in terms of OPS, which was nice to see. But Grant Holmes is not a lefty, so I scrolled down to see how we do against righties, and discovered the rather depressing fact that we rank 29th in the majors in OPS against right-handed pitching. I tend to try to look for something interesting that I could touch on and organize my thinking around, in case a Saturday game goes badly for us, as it feels like they often do.
Anyway. As it turns out, I didn't really need to, though it certainly didn't look like it was going to be that way in the early going. Holmes caught leadoff man Lars Nootbaar looking to start off the game, then got Corbin Carroll to pop out on the infield and Geraldo Perdomo to strike out swinging on three pitches to make short work of the Snakes in the top of the first. Everyone's favorite hologram then came on for the bottom of the frame and gave up hits to the first three batters he faced: a home run to absolutely straightaway center field to Ronald Acuña, Jr., followed by a double to Drake Baldwin and a maddening bloop single just behind shortstop that fell in and advanced Baldwin to third. ERod finally recorded his first out on an Ozzie Albies pop fly to shallow right, but Baldwin crossed the plate on a grounder to second. That wound up being all the damage done, but we were already in a hole and Rodriguez had already thrown 24 pitches. 2-0 Atlanta
Given our dismal 0 for 14 performance last night with runners in scoring position, and given how easily Holmes had disposed of the top of our lineup in the top of the first, it seemed like we were in a very deep hole. But the bottom two thirds of the lineup, perhaps shamed by yesterday's aforementioned dismal performance, were having none of it today. Gabriel Moreno drewa five-pitch walk to lead things off, and was promptly advanced to third by a Max Kepler double into the alley in right center that rolled to the wall. Nolan Arenado grounded out slowly to third, allowing Moreno to score. Then Tim Tawa grounded a single to left, driving in Kepler and tying things back up. But we weren't done! Ildemaro Vargas, starting at second today due to Ketel Marte's gimpy knee, rolled over to second for the second out, but then Ryan Waldschmidt hit an opposite field liner to right that dropped for a single and scored Tawa from second. 3-2 DBACKS
And it was basically off to the races after that. ERod surrendered a

On Tuesday night against the Atlanta Braves, following a clunker of an outing his last time out in Cleveland, Nolan McLean allowed just one hit through six innings.
Unfortunately for the right-hander, that one hit, a home run by Ozzie Albies, was enough to beat him and the Mets who were shut out against Martin Perez and the Braves bullpen in a 4-0 loss.
Any other day, especially lately as New York's offense has been red-hot, McLean's outing would've been more than enough to earn him a win. Still, he and interim manager Andy Green were pleased with how he threw the ball.
"He was great," Green said. "I thought he bounced back early from being behind consistently and he managed to get out of those in the first couple of innings, avoided hits early because of that.
"Pitched behind more than he'd like to or we'd like him to, [but he] really found his groove there for a while. Just great six innings of work. One pitch that I'm sure he wants back."

#outing #enough #back #like

After putting up a total of 13 runs last night, the Mets and Braves had a much lower scoring affair in game two of this three game series, with the Atlanta going over NewYork 4-0.
Nolan McLean and Martín Pérez engaged in a pitchers' duel, with neither having dominant stuff tonight, but both doing what they could to keep the offense to a minimum. The Mets put runners on in each of the first four innings, but Pérez was able to keep them from coming around to score.
Both teams were kept off the board until the bottom of the fifth inning, when Ozzie Albies led off with a solo home run. That solo home run was the only hit given up by McLean, who had six strong innings, allowing just the one hit/one run, two walks, and struck out three. McLean was efficient with his pitches, throwing 85 over his six innings.
The Mets' best chance to score happened in the sixth inning, when Bo Bichette walked and Luis Robert Jr. singled to put two on with one out. However, Carson Benge grounded into a double play to end the inning without incident.
Another run crossed the plate for the Braves in the seventh, with Jefry Yan on the mound. Two walks, a wild pitch, a ground out, and a sacrifice fly plated the second run of the game. After issuing his third walk of the inning, Yan was pulled from the game for Chayce McDermott. The first pitch tossed by McDermott was a wild pitch, pushing the runners to second and third. A long fly ball off the bat of Austin Riley found its way into Robert's Jr's glove at the wall to end the inning.

#pitch

A.J. Ewing – LF
Francisco Lindor – SS
Bo Bichette – 3B
Luis Robert – CF
Carson Benge – RF
Marcus Semien – 2B
Francisco Alvarez – C
Jorge Polanco – DH
Gabriel Arias – 1B
SP: Nolan McLean – RHP
Drake Baldwin – C
Ronald Acuna – DH
Matt Olson – 1B
Michael Harris – CF
Ozzie Albies – 2B
Mauricio Dubon – LF
Mike Yastrzemski – RF
Austin Riley – 3B
Jim Jarvis – SS
SP: Martin Perez – LHP
First pitch: 7:15 PM ET
TV: SNY
Radio: Audacy Mets Radio WHSQ 880AM, Audacy App, 92.3 HD2

#luis #benge

Prior to Monday night's series opener against the Braves, interim manager Andy Green wasn't ready to commit to one specific player taking over the closers' role with Devin Williams sidelined.
Kodai Senga seemed like the most logical candidate with his recent move to more of a one-inning high-leverage relief role, and just a few hours later, he was indeed the man for the job.
Senga came on in the bottom of the ninth and easily cruised his way through the heart of the Braves' lineup to put the finishing touches on what went down as his first career save.
The right-hander came out pumping 99 mph on the gun, then struck out lefty sluggers Matt Olson and Michael Harris II with a pair of nasty forkballs in the dirt.
He issued a two-out walk to Ozzie Albies, but was able to get Mauricio Dubon to fly one weakly to right just two pitches later, locking up the series-opening victory over the division rivals.

#came

This game had an eventful first inning that saw the Mets plate five on Bryce Elder and the Braves, and then a valiant-but-doomed comeback attempt over the rest of the game. The main things that stood out to me: Bryce Elder with poor command is a nightmare, and the Braves really needed some homers in this one but couldn't find 'em. Will the Phillies gain a game on the Braves by the time I finish this recap? Who knows.
Boy, that first inning, though. The game started with an A.J. Ewing double off Elder. The ball rolled under the padding in right field, and Ronald Acuña Jr. threw up his hands to signal a ground rule double. Ewing stopped running midway between second and third. For some reason, the Mets challenged the call, and this resulted in something absurd like an eight-minute delay of game… only for the umpires to rule that while the ball was not "lodged," Ewing would nonetheless be "awarded" second base. Pace of play, am I right?
Anyway, would that that was the only excitement in the first, but alas. A single later scored Ewing, and then a key play happened on a 3-2 Elder pitch to Carson Benge. The pitch was clearly a strike, but Sean Murphy came up throwing and had the runner dead to rights… except that it was ruled a ball and Murphy didn't challenge, turning a 1-0 deficit and a half-inning break into a 1-0 deficit, runners on first and second, and one out. After a short liner single to load the bases, Elder got a punchout… and then hung a first-pitch slider to Brett Baty, who slammed it for a grand… slam. The Mets actually collected two more hits before Elder finished the frame, but the score remained 5-0.
Then, the Braves mounted a rally of their own against Christian Scott. Unfortunately, their rally didn't have a homer, so it wasn't as productive. Drake Baldwin led off with a double, Matt Olson later singled, and Ozzie Albies had a crazy 11-pitch plate appearance that ended with a 3-2 pitch barely clipping his uniform to load the bases. Mauricio Dubon then came through with a seeing-eye bouncer that plated two. Austin Riley ended the rally by watching two of three pitches in the zone (and fouling off the second). Oops.
The Mets continued tearing into Elder and the Braves' defense. Francisco Lindor, whose small-sample lifetime stats against Elder are murderous, led off the second with a double, and then scored on a two-out bloop. Another single and a walk loaded the bases, but the frame ended at 6-2. Sean Murphy collected a one-out double in the bottom of the inning, but was left stranded. Lindor then tagged Elder for a two-out solo homer in the third, and yeah, that's kind of how this one was developing for a while.

#Braves #pitch

For 114 games this season, Ozzie Albies has been in the starting lineup. Sometimes he's hit third, sometimes he's hit sixth, he had a long stretch hitting second… but he's been in there.
Tonight, for the first time in 2026, Albies won't be in there. He gives way to Mauricio Dubon, who will slide over to the keystone and bat fifth.
The rest of the lineup is more or less as expected, with the Braves loading up on lefties against right-hander Janson Junk, a day after they loaded up on righties against right-hander Eury Perez. Austin Riley remains set in the eight-hole, as the Braves double up on lefties after Dubon.
Given that Junk has already made one start against the Braves this year, there's no lack of familiarity here, though neither Drake Baldwin nor Jim Jarvis have stood in against him yet. And, really, we're not talking a lot of PAs for the other seven guys, as Mike Yastrzemski leads the way with nine. The collective line is just a .255 xwOBA in 34 PAs… but it does come with a .340 wOBA. Both Riley and Dominic Smith hit three-run homers off Junk earlier this year.
The Marlins still don't have a lineup, which always seems to be the case — they are definitely one of the latest lineup-posters in MLB and have been for quite a few years now. I'll update this if they ever put one out.

#junk #albies #sometimes #lefties

ATLANTA (AP) — Ronald Acuña Jr. and Mike Yastrzemski homered and the Atlanta Braves overcame a three-run deficit to beat the Washington Nationals 5-4 on Thursday night.
Ozzie Albies' two-run single in the sixth inning broke a 3-3 tie for the Braves, who managed just four hits. Eight of Atlanta's last nine games have been decided by one run.
Victor Mederos (1-0) picked up the first win of his four-year career, giving up a run in an inning of work. Dylan Lee worked a perfect eighth and Raisel Iglesias earned a save for the second straight night, giving him 23 on the season.
Daylen Lile hit two of the three solo home runs for the Nationals off Braves starter Grant Holmes. Lile has 13 for the season. The third was by Luis Garcia Jr., who also had a run-scoring triple and was 3 for 5.
The Nationals have hit 48 homers in July. That is one off the franchise for a month of 49 set in September 2012.

#lile

Chase DeLauter has hit seven of his 11 home runs this year against righties on the road.
The MLB best home run bets are in a small funk. Since Bryce Harper and Ozzie Albies hit home runs on July 20, four straight MLB best home run bets have failed to deliver. So, the season's record for MLB best home run bets sits at 18-63, with three no-bets.
The record is rock-solid for a long-shot bet, like home run bets. As a result, anyone who has bet $100 on each of the touted home run props at the listed odds has profited $861. Again, home run bets are long-shot wagers, so losing streaks are part of the equation.
There are two appealing home run bets on today's MLB slate, though. A young left-handed-hitting outfielder in a plus matchup and homer-friendly ballpark and a young right-handed-hitting outfielder in a favorable matchup and homer-friendly ballpark have the most compelling home run bets on today's MLB slate.
Over 0.5 Home Runs (+338) at DraftKings Sportsbook

#home #bets #shot #young

Once upon a time (although it wasn't just once), the Braves used Carlos Carrasco in a close game. Ronald Acuña Jr. got injured in that game and ended up missing about six weeks of play. The use of Carrasco turned sinister, the Braves lost that game, and then ended up mired in a funk that lasted for a good chunk of Acuña's absence.
Tonight, Ronald Acuña Jr. made his return to the lineup. It could have been a triumphant time, building on the Braves' recent strong run of results. Instead, amid some rain and another indifferent outing from Martin Perez, the Braves opted to insert Connor Thomas, the "last guy" in their bullpen, into a tie game. It went south almost immediately, and then it kind of ran out south to go, as the Mets just pummeled Thomas into oblivion. To the Braves' credit, they let Thomas wear it and didn't use another pitcher, avoiding a double-down mistake of using Thomas to save the rest of the bullpen but then not actually saving the rest of the bullpen. (Jorge Mateo got the last out in lieu of Thomas, after the score had ballooned to 14-3 in favor of the Mets.)
Before all that, though, the game was pretty cool. In his first major league PA in a while, Acuña fell behind 0-2 against Zac Thornton, battled back to 3-2, and then teed off on a pitch down the middle, knocking it 108 mph to center for a solid single. Drake Baldwin followed followed with a hard liner single of his own, and the Braves seemed to be in business. Unfortunately, Matt Olson hit into a double play, but Ozzie Albies, as part of a measure of personal revenge for possibly a career-worst game on Sunday, legged out an infield hit to plate his buddy for the first run of the game.
Martin Perez did not have a shutdown first inning. A hard-hit grounder went for a leadoff hit, and then Francisco Lindor got his arms extended on a cutter on the edge away and nearly hit it out of the park. The play ended up being kind of weird, as it looked like it was just going to be a double, but the ball bounced far enough off the wall that Lindor ended up getting an RBI triple. But, Perez pachinko also cuts the other way, as a grounder to third, a strikeout, and flyout to center kept the game tied at one run apiece.
Nothing much happened in the second or the top of the third. In the bottom half of the inning, after a leadoff single, Lindor again took a Perez pitch on the outer edge, this time a changeup, and pulled it into left for a two-run homer. Perez was hitting his spots, but it didn't matter. That score didn't last long: after Olson drew a leadoff walk in the fourth, Albies victimized Thornton by crushing an elevated fastball for a definitive non-cheapie homer. Michael Harris II singled and it looked like the Braves might've solved Thornton, but that didn't end up being the case, as Mauricio Dubon popped out and Austin Riley hit into a double play.

#thomas #play #double #lindor

The Miami Marlins (52-51) welcome the San Diego Padres (50-53) to South Beach this weekend. It is a crucial three-game set for both teams' playoff hopes. Each club has struggled following the All-Star break. The loser of this series will kiss their postseason chances goodbye.
The Padres fell short for a second consecutive day, as a late-game rally ended in a frustrating 6-5 defeat to the Atlanta Braves. The loss dropped them to 2-5 on their 10-game, three-city road trip.
The Friars began the scoring with a three-run rally off of Braves ace Chris Sale. A fielding error by left fielder Mauricio Dubón aided the offense, as it was followed by a bases-loaded walk to Fernando Tatis Jr. and a two-run single by Luis Renglio. But that lead was short-lived.
After Padres opener Kyle Hart pitched a scoreless first inning, Griffin Canning came into the contest as the bulk pitcher. His struggles continued with the first batter he faced. Michael Harris II homered on the second pitch of his at-bat. The Braves scored four more runs in the fourth inning, as Ozzie Albies hit a solo home run and Dominic Smith followed with a three-run blast.
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#short

In a game that first crawled due to a deluge of walks (but few runs) and then saw dueling late-inning paroxysms in each team’s final time at the plate, the Braves eventually emerged victorious. But boy, was it a winding path to get there.
At the beginning of this contest, things seemed like they were going to drag on forever with little to show for it. After a one-walk, no other action first from Martin Perez, the Braves took aim at Michael King, who dominated them a few weeks ago in San Diego, and…
…he did not dominate this time. In fact, King walked the first three batters he faced, grimacing and looking generally uncomfy all the while. A groundout from Michael Harris II plated a run, but both Austin Riley and Mike Yastrzemski kind of lost the plot and went down looking. Yastrzemski, in particular, looked at five straight pitches to end the inning… the Braves’ track record with guys skimping on rehab **** ignments this year is looking abysmal.
Staked to a small lead, Perez did his normal thing — it just happened to work out this time. He walked two in the second, but then recovered with two punchouts. The Braves got a couple of singles against a resurgent-ish King in the bottom of the inning, but Ozzie Albies struck out on a changeup that was literally in the other batter’s box. There was another walk from Perez, this time of the leadoff variety, in the third, but nothing else. King followed suit, but again, nothing doing from the bats. Perez had a quicker fourth, three up and three down thanks to a double play. Meanwhile, the Braves kinda-sorta tried to rally against King with a leadoff double from Mauricio Dubon and an infield single by Brewer Hicklen, but two weak flyouts kept it a 1-0 game.
Some combination of “Perez didn’t have a rehab **** ignment and had thrown 75 pitches” and “Perez had a 3/4 K/BB ratio in four innings” ultimately convinced the Braves to go to the bullpen for the fifth. Dylan Dodd came in and was delicious, throwing an 11-pitch frame with two strikeouts and a first-pitch groundout. King stayed in, and worked around a two-out single. Didier Fuentes followed Dodd and had to work a little harder (18 pitches), but had his two strikeouts, one groundout inning all the same. King’s night finished with a flourish, a nine-pitch frame that featured a strikeout of Hicklen. He rebounded and once again mystified the Braves despite the rocky start, with a 7/4 K/BB ratio — a 7/1 K/BB ratio after the first three batters.

#perez #looking #groundout

ATLANTA (AP) — Rookie Jim Jarvis drilled a run-scoring double into the right-field corner to give Atlanta the lead in a six-run eighth inning and the Braves survived a ninth-inning scare to beat the San Diego Padres 7-6 on Wednesday night.
With one out in the eighth, Mauricio Dubón singled off left-hander Wandy Peralta (1-1). Jarvis followed with the double that allowed Dubón to score from first base for a 2-1 lead.
Brewer Hicklen drove in Jarvis with a double to left field. Ozzie Albies, Matt Olson, Austin Riley and Dominic Smith added run-scoring singles off Randy Vásquez. The Braves collected seven of their 14 hits in the inning.
Right-hander Víctor Mederos gave up a run-scoring single to Gavin Sheets and a two-run triple to Fernando Tatis Jr. in the ninth. Raisel Iglesias gave up a two-run homer to Luis Rengifo before recording the final two outs for his 20th save.
Dylan Lee (5-0) pitched a scoreless eighth.

#jarvis #atlanta #field #lead