Whether it’s the summer weather, a different batch of balls, or something else, the ball was flying all weekend at Truist Park. After mashing the Rays into oblivion during the first two games of this series, the Braves knocked three homers and tallied six runs, but were doomed by a two-run shot in the ninth off Raisel Iglesias and couldn’t find another rally in them, snapping their three-game winning streak.
Like many games, this one had a lot of components, so let’s take it piece by piece.
Hurston Waldrep and his management struggled
For rookie right-hander Hurston Waldrep, his second start was uncomfortably similar to his first. In his debut, he breezed through the lineup the first time through and ran into a disaster in the fourth inning; this time, he mostly breezed through the lineup the first time through, and then ran into a disaster in the fourth inning.
The Rays struck first off Waldrep with a leadoff double, a walk, and after an easy double play ball, another walk, and a grounder up the middle that would’ve been out number three had it not bounced off the second base bag for an RBI single. Travis d’Arnaud threw out Randy Arozarena, who had the hit off the bag, trying to steal second to end the frame.
After a 1-2-3 second that included a strikeout, Waldrep gave up a two-out, none on homer to Brandon Lowe in the third, but then got a flyout to end it. After that, though, things turned sinister indeed. Waldrep got his second strikeout of the day to start the fourth, but then issued three straight walks. (Technically, the first was a hit-by-pitch, but it came on a 3-2 count.) The second and third walks in the sequence came as Waldrep struggled to find the zone, throwing eight of nine pitches for balls, with only one of them particularly close to the zone and still ruled a ball. Despite what happened in his first start, the Braves didn’t pull him after he put two on, nor three on. That brought up Ben Rortvedt, who took a first-pitch elevated slider and lofted it into right field for a very weird, yet very karmic (don’t walk the bases loaded, and don’t let a pitcher who walked the bases loaded continue pitching, you goobers), 19 percent hit probability home run. It was Rortvedt’s first homer of the year, and it gave the Rays a 6-2 lead. Waldrep was actually left in for another batter, who managed an infield single, before finally exiting.
Amazing relief from Dylan Lee and Grant Holmes
Waldrep’s abbreviated, and frankly terrible (2/4 K/BB ratio that really should be 2/5, and two homers) allowed did have an upside, in that it let Dylan Lee and Grant Holmes, who was called up before this game, scintillate in relief. Despite my firm conviction that the Braves aspire to get the “Finally Murdered Dylan Lee” achievement at some point this season, he came on to face a righty after Waldrep’s departure and promptly got a double play ball. He then went on to throw one of filthiest relief innings I’ve ever seen him throw, striking out the side on 12 pitches, without a single foul ball (there was a foul tip).
For the sixth through the eighth, the Braves called upon Holmes, a 28-year-old right-hander who was a first round pick in 2014 and has toiled for parts of 11 seasons in the minors to this point. Holmes, was, well, awesome. He went nine up, nine down. One of the two hits against him was a sub-70 mph pop fly, and he erased both on double play balls, while collecting two strikeouts and walking no one. Maybe you aren’t wondering if the Braves will give him a turn in their go-go-gadget-six-man-rotation, but I am.
The offense continues to roll
Though the Braves didn’t win this one, the offense was again giving “all systems nominal” messages. Immediately after going down 1-0, Jarred Kelenic parked a 1-0 hanging curveball from Zach Eflin into right field for a leadoff homer. In the second, it was Travis d’Arnaud’s turn to jump all over Eflin, golfing a cutter low in the zone 427 feet out to center field to give the Braves a 2-1 lead.
After that, Eflin changed his approach a bit — taking advantage of the Braves being, well, the Braves, he began to throw some obvious waste pitches, and the Braves still chased them. That led to a span where he struck out five of six batters, including the side in the fifth. But then, with two outs in the sixth, the Braves staged a weird little rally — Matt Olson swung at one of those waste pitches and beat it into the ground for an infield single. Austin Riley jumped on the first pitch he got and rolled it through the right side for a single. Adam Duvall hooked a curveball that didn’t get outside enough into left to score Olson. d’Arnaud then hit a high sweeper into the ground for what should’ve been a routine third out, but Richie Palacios, playing third base for the first time in the majors, absolutely pooched the throw, allowing Riley to score and putting the tying runs in scoring position.
That was all for Eflin, who departed after 5 2⁄3 with a 7/1 K/BB ratio and the two homers allowed. Kevin Kelly came on and retired Orlando Arcia on three pitches, because, well, it’s 2024 and Orlando Arcia.
The Braves got another gift from Palacios to lead off the seventh against Colin Poche, as he botched a soft bouncer off the bat of Ramon Laureano. However, Ozzie Albies later hit into a double play. But, their magic wasn’t fully extinguished yet. Facing Jason Adam in the eighth, Matt Olson did what he hasn’t really been able to do all year: drive an outside pitch over the left fielder’s head. After Olson’s double, Austin Riley battled Adam for ten pitches, spoiling pretty much everything... until he got a fastball he liked and smashed it into right-center for a game-tying two-run homer.
Say it ain’t so, Raisel
Things were set up for a dramatic comeback victory, but instead, the Rays were the ones able to make it metaphorically rain in the ninth.
The Braves asked Raisel Iglesias to keep the Rays at bay and let a ninth-inning run walk it off, but he couldn’t. After a leadoff walk and a strikeout, Jose Siri jumped all over a below-the-zone changeup and crushed it for a two-run homer. Iglesias actually struck out the side in the inning, but the damage was done. It was actually kind of a bonkers inning from Iglesias in that regard — he’s struggled with inputs but not outputs this season due to a teeny-tiny strikeout rate but has gotten by because he hasn’t allowed any homers, and today he struck out the side, his first three-strikeout game since July of last year, but also somehow allowed a homer on a pitch well below the knees.
The Braves seemed to get a great sign they could rally once more in the bottom of the inning, as Pete Fairbanks, one of the few Rays relievers not to be stuck in a nightmarish season, walked Arcia to start the inning. For some reason, the Braves then asked J.P. Martinez to pinch-hit for Laureano, and Fairbanks absolutely demolished him on three fastballs in the zone, so that went really poorly. Kelenic then appeared to have worked another walk, but a 3-1 pitch that was almost certainly a ball was not called as such, and he hit into a forceout. Albies was Atlanta’s last hope, and swung through two sliders to end the game.
All in all, the only real issue in this game was Waldrep, and perhaps moreso, letting him stay in the game despite the same struggles, in pretty much the same sequence, as he showed in his MLB debut. The offense appears to be back, maybe aided by the summer weather in Atlanta (or maybe the Rays were just pitching horribly, probably a mix of both), and despite Iglesias picking a terrible time to somehow get beat on a pitch below the zone for a game-winning homer, the Braves will probably have plenty of positives to take from this game, and this series, as they prepare to host the Tigers on Monday.
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June 17, 2024 at 03:45AM
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It's another brick in the Waldrep as Braves lose slugfest, 8-6 - Battery Power
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