When the Braves mounted their eighth-inning comeback Friday night, Spencer Schwellenbach was not in the dugout with them. He was inside the clubhouse doing his post-start arm care.
But he could hear the crowd from there.
It was loud.
The Braves scored three in the eighth to beat the Marlins, 5-3, at Truist Park. Atlanta has won four in a row and six of its last seven after a losing streak.
Five observations:
1. Yes, every win is great. But ones like this? They can mean a bit more for momentum.
“It’s a big win,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “Especially to come back late like that. … We couldn’t do anything with their starter, obviously. So it’s just good to fight back and have an emotional win like that.”
The Braves did not have a hit through four innings. Dating to Thursday’s game, they’d gone eight innings without a hit.
Then Orlando Arcia homered to begin the fifth.
From there, the Braves steadily came back.
“It was only a matter of time,” Schwellenbach said. “We got really good hitters. It’s kind of hard to hold us down for nine innings.”
The Braves’ offense hasn’t clicked for lengthy stretches this season. But this victory represented some positive momentum. Atlanta woke up and defeated an inferior opponent after being no-hit through four frames.
“I think the important thing for us is even though they got off to an early lead, it’s more about the way we finished the game,” Arcia said through interpreter Franco García.
Let’s get into how the Braves did it.
2. When he stepped into the batter’s box in the eighth, Jorge Soler was 0-for-9 to begin his second stint with the Braves. And on the first pitch of his 10th at-bat, he grounded a single into right field that scored the tying run.
It gave the ballpark the most life it had to that point in the night.
The fans were once again roaring for a guy they cheered three years ago.
“Yeah, I enjoyed it, for sure,” Soler said through García about the fans cheering for him again. “I obviously haven’t gotten a hit since I’ve been here, so I was able to get that one and it felt like it came at a good time.”
It did. It tied the game.
Austin Riley followed with a double. Then Marcell Ozuna brought home the go-ahead run with a deep sacrifice fly that was almost a three-run blast.
The Braves had the place rocking.
“Yeah, I mean, it feels like the team’s inspired,” Soler said. “Everyone’s playing hard and playing well, and I think things are going well for us.”
Two key plays in the comeback:
In that eighth inning, Whit Merrifield laid down a sacrifice to advance Jarred Kelenic, who scored the tying run on Soler’s single.
In the sixth, with the infield back, Riley grounded a ball to second to score a run and bring Atlanta within a run.
“Those are huge at-bats right there – where you don’t have to get a hit, you can make a productive out,” Snitker said. “When you start doing stuff like that as a team, then you got a really good chance of staying in games and coming back in games.”
The Braves, as their manager knows, are a fun group. They stay the same when things don’t go well, but at this moment, they’re rolling.
They’re enjoying it.
“That dugout is kind of like American Legion (baseball) sometimes – the energy and how much fun they have playing the game,” Snitker said. “I’ve always admired that with this group for as long as I’ve had this group – how much fun they have competing. They love everything about this. They love doing the work, they love coming early and doing things and they really like it when the umpire says, ‘Play ball’ and they can compete. Through good, bad, ugly, whatever it is, they enjoy coming to the ballpark and playing baseball.”
3. When Arcia was ill in late June, Snitker worried about Arcia before he even knew he was sick.
“I knew there was something wrong because I couldn’t hear him,” Snitker said.
Arcia is usually joking around with everyone, smiling, laughing and cheering on his teammates.
“He’s all of his teammates’ biggest fan,” Snitker said. “He’s the same guy every day. He comes, loves to play, does the work. It’s really fun to be around guys like that.”
And it makes it even better when they see personal results. Arcia is on a heater.
Marlins starter Valente Bellozo had flummoxed the Braves – until Arcia got him for a homer. Arcia has homered in four of his last six games. The blast extended his career-best 13-game hitting streak.
Oh, and in the eighth, he singled to score another run and give the Braves a two-run advantage.
“I’m just gonna keep being the same, just keep making adjustments, little by little, to get things going where we want them to be,” Arcia said.
He’s hitting .372 over his hitting streak.
4. Schwellenbach struck out 10 batters – and didn’t walk anyone.
“That’s how I want to pitch every time,” he said. “I don’t want to walk anyone. The early runs didn’t scare me away from the strike zone, which I’m proud of myself for that. Sometimes when you get hit around early, you can kind of start nibbling the second time through the order, and I didn’t do that, so that was what I was most proud of.”
He served up one homer in the first and another in the third. But he rebounded and didn’t permit another run over his seven innings.
He kept the Braves in the game so they could come back and win it.
Over his last five starts, he has a 2.45 ERA with 38 strikeouts and one walk over 33 innings.
Since the mound moved to its current distance of 60 feet, 6 inches in 1893, Schwellenbach is the third rookie to strike out at least 10 batters with no walks in consecutive starts. He joined Dwight Gooden (1984) and the Reds’ Nick Lodolo (2022).
And in that same span, he’s the first pitcher with at least 70 strikeouts and 10 or fewer walks within his first 11 career appearances.
“Especially in today’s world where it’s velocity, high fastballs, see how hard you can spin it, strikeouts, the whole thing, how he repeats his delivery is really refreshing, how he uses all of his pitches,” Snitker said. “And it’s not like he’s throwing for an iPad or (Trackman).”
5. Asked about Arcia, Schwellenbach offered this gem in the news conference room:
“I grew up a Brewers fan, and watching him in Milwaukee, I know what he can do and this team knows what he can do.”
Later, Arcia was asked if Schwellenbach’s admiration makes him feel old.
“No, it’s just funny how the tables have turned, because now I like watching him pitch,” Arcia said.
Stat to know
7 - The Braves have seven victories this season when trailing after seven innings of play. Tampa Bay (nine) and the Angels (eight) are the only clubs with more such wins this season.
Quotable
“Yeah. I don’t know. It’s baseball. Who knows? I mean, that’s why you compartmentalize it and take every day the same. You can’t control tomorrow and yesterday is gone, so the only thing you can do is you live in the present with today’s game. I kind of feel like that’s the most important game we play every day is today’s. We beat ourselves up mentally enough without putting that pressure of where we’ve been or where we’re going.” - Snitker on the team’s recent turnaround following the losing streak
Up next
The Braves on Saturday will send Grant Holmes to the mound for his second career start. The Braves’ lineup will face Marlins right-hander Kyle Tyler. First pitch is at 7:20 p.m.
