A four-game series within the division on the road is always interesting. It was especially interesting considering that the Washington Nationals were heading into this series having scored the third-most runs in the National League (fourth overall) with a MLB-leading 22 of those runs coming in the first inning of their games played so far. It was clear that if the Braves were going to get greedy and think about winning this series, the pitching would have to perform.
Fortunately, Atlanta had a low bar to clear when it came to their pitching staff being better than Washington’s. That’s because as good as the Nationals had been at the plate, they had been just as bad on the mound. Considering how the Braves had been swinging the bat heading into this series, this did seem like a prime opportunity for Atlanta to keep on cooking at the plate and keep on putting some breathing room between themselves and the Phillies and Mets, who had both gotten off to very sluggish starts to begin this season.
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The onus was seemingly on Atlanta’s lineup to out-slug CJ Abrams, James Wood and the rest of the potent Nationals lineup. Let’s take a look at how things went down over the past four games for the Braves:
Monday, April 20
Braves 9, Nationals 4
The Nationals scored two runs in the first inning because this is apparently they do, now. The Braves didn’t respond until the fourth inning, which is when Matt Olson cracked one out to dead-center field for a two-run shot that tied the game up at two. Daylen Lile then responded in the bottom half of the fourth with a solo shot of his own that gave the Nationals the lead and it sure seemed like we were in for a topsy-turvy game.
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Fortunately, once the bullpen entered the game in relief of Bryce Elder (who was unfortunate to end up with four runs conceded as one of those came on an error), they were able to make sure that the Nationals didn’t do any more damage after that. That was a good thing since the Braves were able to eventually get to Jake Irvin for four runs (three earned as well) while he was out there for five innings. Unlike Atlanta’s ‘pen, Washington’s relief corps was unable to keep the Braves quiet.
A five-run sixth inning wound up being the turning point in favor of the Braves in this contest and then Atlanta added a couple more insurance runs in the ninth inning in order to cruise to a five-run victory. Drake Baldwin came up with the huge knock in the sixth that broke the game open, which isn’t surprising because this is Drake Baldwin we’re talking about. This ended up being a win on multiple fronts as Ronald Acuña Jr. withstood two HBPs (one of which was a scary one that smacked him on the wrist) and ended up escaping with no structural damage — he even started for the rest of the series.
Tuesday, April 21
Nationals 11, Braves 4
The Nationals scored three runs in the first inning because this is apparently what they do, now. Unfortunately for the Braves, Washington was far from done as they followed up on their first-inning damage with consistent offense that eventually crescendoed for them in the final two innings of this one. Reynaldo López got the hook in the second inning after giving up a homer to James Wood and a single immediately afterwards. The good news is that Jose Suarez, Dylan Dodd (who would unfortunately have to go on the IL the next night) and Aaron Bummer were able to keep the Braves in the game as they attempted to chip away at another early deficit.
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Unfortunately, this game turned once Ian Hamilton and Joel Payamps entered the contest. They both gave up three runs in their appearances and that allowed the Nationals to pull away while the Braves were unable to keep up in order to make it a truly crazy slugfest. Instead, this was another example of how this Nationals lineup should be taken seriously and is going to win this team a fair share of ballgames via mashing their way out of any trouble. The Braves did mash their way into cutting the deficit to just one run in the fifth inning (with homers from Drake Baldwin and Eli White powering them forward) but that was as close as Atlanta got on this night.
Wednesday, April 22
Braves 8, Nationals 6
The Nationals scored four runs in the first inning because this is apparently what they do, now. This time, the Braves responded right away in order to back up the newly-recalled Didier Fuentes after he suffered another early-game ambush from Washington. The game was tied up at four runs apiece by the top of the second inning, as a two-run homer from Michael Harris II and a sacrifice fly from Ronald Acuña Jr. combined with a first-inning dinger from Drake Baldwin to bring the Braves back on level terms.
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The Braves weren’t done crushing the ball, either. Money Mike got another crack at it in the very next frame and while this homer wasn’t as majestic as the one that he hit into the upper deck in the second inning, it still did the job done in putting the Braves in front at 5-4. Matt Olson got his turn in the next frame, as his big fly gave the Braves plenty of space and also doomed Zack Littell to a second-consecutive outing where he gave up at least eight runs. Oof!
Didier Fuentes only went three innings but his performance was encouraging enough to think that he’s absolutely got the stuff to eventually do well at the big league level. For now, he’s back down at Triple-A while consensus MLB Top 100 prospect JR Richie ended up getting a chance on Thursday afternoon.
Thursday, April 23
Braves 7, Nationals 2
The Nationals scored in the first inning because this is apparently what they do, now. Indeed, James Wood gave JR Ritchie a “Welcome to The Show” moment as he took the very first pitch that Ritchie threw as a big leaguer and promptly deposited it into the seats in right field for a leadoff homer. Fortunately, Ritchie proceeded to lock down the Nats from that point forward and ended up delivering a fantastic debut.
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I think we’ll all take seven innings, seven strikeouts and just two runs allowed on five hits from a debuting rookie, won’t we? That’s exactly what we got from Ritchie who looked very, very good against a lineup that had been previously mashing the ball. If your only blemishes in your debut are giving up homers to the two best players that the Nats have to offer (CJ Abrams homered as well) then you are doing just fine.
This one actually stayed close while both starters were out there since Cade Cavalli was able to provide a sorely-needed stabilizing presence for Washington’s pitching staff. His only two blemishes came on a sacrifice fly from Ozzie Albies and an RBI single from Michael Harris II — whose day was unfortunately cut short after he had to leave the game in the middle of the seventh inning after feeling some tightness in his left quad.
By the time Mike had left the game, the Braves were in Washington’s bullpen and as we’d seen on multiple occasions during this series, Washington’s bullpen getting involved usually meant good news for Atlanta. Cionel Pérez was unable to maintain the 2-2 deadlock as the Braves broke out for three runs against him and eventually ended up plating four runs total in the seventh in order to turn the game on a dime. Hopefully Harris will be fine as well, since he had a big game (and a big series as a whole) and it’d truly be a shame if he had to experience a lengthy absence right when he’s starting to really heat up.
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Ozzie Albies eventually added a solo homer of his own in the ninth inning to add some more breathing room and also cap off on a huge day at the plate for himself. That eventually led to ol’ Cookie Carrasco finishing things off in the ninth inning in order to gave the Braves a four-game series win on the road. Fantastic.
Going 5-2 on a seven game road trip that consisted of nothing but divisional games is like picking up a dollar bill on the floor that you forgot about. Winning a four-game series on the road is like picking up a tenner. Doing it against a divisional foe in the form of the Nationals is like picking up a twenty. You can upgrade that to a fifty dollar bill when you consider that the Marlins aren’t doing so hot, themselves, and both the Phillies and the Mets are currently spinning their wheels in the mud. The Atlanta Braves could not ask for a more ideal way to get this season started as they are heading in the right direction while the two other preseason conteners for the division are seemingly heading in the complete opposite direction.
You always have to take April results with a grain of salt since there’s so much baseball to be played but at the same time, we all know from experience that you’d much rather be in a position where you can simply just maintain your position for the rest of the season rather than having to spend weeks or even months trying to dig yourself out of an early-season hole. The Phillies and Mets are going to have to do some serious digging to get back to ground-level while the Braves are sprinting and putting an early gap between them and their two usual foes.
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So while it’s tough to say what the long-term impact of this run of form for everybody in the NL east will be, it’s certainly great that the Braves are in the position that they’re currently in. They took care of business on this road trip, they’ve already gone 8-2 in the first 10 games of this 13-game NL East gauntlet and they’ll have a further opportunity to keep on kicking the Phillies while they’re down now that they’ve got a home series against Philadelphia coming up. It will be very important for the Braves to keep this run going in the same direction in order to make sure that any path back for the Phillies will be as difficult as possible.
For now, you’ve got to tip your cap to the Nationals for continuing to swing the bat very well. Their pitching staff may not be any good but it’s clear that Washington won’t be a doormat for teams to walk all over during this season. The quality of Washington’s offense and Miami’s pitching will likely make things tougher for the Braves within the division but that’ll also be just as annoying for New York and Philadelphia to deal with as well. This division is going to be an interesting one going forward but hey, as long as the Braves can find a way to stay on top of the pile then I think we’ll all take “interesting” over “frustrating.”
