Fireworks from opening weekend at Truist Park
Well, after a great road trip for the Braves to start the season, things cooled off a little bit a home. They lost the series 1-4 against the Padres and then came back to sweep the Reds. It was nice to have the Braves playing at home, and all the games were sold out.
There were definitely some exciting moments from the Atlanta Braves Home-stand. Some of those exciting moments were crucial in the Braves wins. In fact, in every single game against the Cincinnati Reds the Braves won by one run.
- Orlando Arcia’s Walk-off win:
A great way to keep the momentum going from the Braves great road trip was to come home and have a very exciting walk-off win against the San Diego Padres. In the bottom of the ninth inning Arcia had a 2-out single that scored Eddie Rosario from second base giving the Braves a walk-off victory. Arcia definitely proved himself in the two and a half weeks of the 2023 season.* He has been a key part of the Braves great start.
- Sean Murphy’s Walk-off win:
After losing the remaining three games against the Padres, Sean Murphy got the series against the Cincinnati Reds off right when he hit a walk-off two run home run- the first of his career- in the bottom of the 10th inning.
Murphy hadn’t shown much pop with his bat since joining the Braves, but his walk-off homer proved that he can be just as handy with the bat as he is behind the plate.
- Ozzie Albies’ 100th Career Home Run:
After going on a major cold spell at home, Ozzie Albies finally broke out of his hitless streak when he hit his 100th home run of his career. And it wasn’t a cheap one – he smoked that baseball into the Chop House. It was a great home run that ended up being crucial to the Braves win.
Hopefully now that his 100th home run is out of the way, Albies will start producing more offensively like we know he is capable of doing.
- Braves Sweep the Cincinnati Reds:
This series was a great bounce back from the series against the Padres. All the games had a lot of action offensively, good defense, and good pitching. Overall it was a well-rounded series.
Pitching wise, it was nice to see Kyle Wright make his season debut for the Atlanta Braves. He was put on the injured list in Spring Training with shoulder inflammation, and the Braves took extra precaution with him.
Wright did decent considering it was his first start of the season. He went 3.0 innings, allowed 4 hits, 4 runs, and allowed 4 walks and had 3 strikeouts. He wasn’t as sharp as we were used to seeing him, but I am confident that with time he will be back to being as sharp as he was last season.
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*For those of you who don’t know, Orlando Arcia was taken out of April 12th’s game as a precaution after he was hit by a pitch on his left wrist. After further examination, it was discovered that he has a microfracture and he was put on the 10-day injured list. It is not clear how much time he will have to miss, but one positive thing about this injury is that it was during the beginning of the season and not in late September.
Because Arcia is now on the IL, Vaughn Grissom will take over the role as shortstop while Arcia recovers. Considering all the playing time he has gotten in Triple-A, Grissom will be ready to go, and it will be nice to see him get some playing time.
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The Braves are showing they are capable of another great season, and I’m excited to watch them play for the remainder of the year!
GO BRAVES!!
Braves Chop Chat 