Battery Power - August 16: Braves 4, Marlins 0Your one stop shop for everything Atlanta Braveshttps://cdn.vox-cdn.com/community_logos/52890/favicon-32x32..png2020-08-16T16:55:56-04:00http://www.batterypower.com/rss/stream/211353592020-08-16T16:55:56-04:002020-08-16T16:55:56-04:00Erlin, bullpen blank Marlins as Braves win 4-0
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<figcaption>Rhona Wise-USA TODAY Sports</figcaption>
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<p>Nick Markakis drove in three of the game's four runs.</p> <p id="VriVEL">Worry not, <a href="https://www.talkingchop.com/">Braves</a> fans. With today's 4-0 victory in Miami, the Braves still haven't lost a series to the <a href="https://www.fishstripes.com/">Marlins</a> since the end of the 2017 season. This one, though, came about in a way that would have been difficult to predict: after oodles of pitching woes, the Braves got a bunch of scoreless innings from <span>Robbie Erlin</span> en route to a five-pitcher shutout.</p>
<p id="EVU6xQ"><span>Erlin</span> allowed just a single in four innings, but really labored while doing so. He threw over 20 pitches in the first despite going 1-2-3; his quickest inning was his last, with 13 pitches thrown. Still, he struck out five of the 13 batters he faced in an admirable effort to give the team some quality innings.</p>
<p id="ZewQVb">After Erlin departed, the bullpen took over and gave the Marlins very little quarter. <span>Darren O'Day</span> threw a perfect fifth and departed after a single and a strikeout in the sixth. <span>A.J. Minter</span> came on to face <span>Jonathan Villar</span> and ended up with a one-pitch outing, as he immediately got a scalded double play ball to second to end the inning. <span>Shane Greene</span> threw two scoreless, giving up the team's only walk but then immediately erasing it on a double play. <span>Tyler Matzek</span> finished the game with a two-strikeout ninth.</p>
<p id="3Li7X4">Hitting-wise, the Braves could not quite solve the relatively soft-tossing Elieser Hernandez. After Marcella Ozuna's two-out single in the first, Hernandez struck out five Braves in a row, and finished with nine total punchouts in five innings. He scattered just three singles. The Braves looked somewhat cooked.</p>
<p id="qBsf8g">But, after Hernandez departed in favor of <span>Nick Vincent</span>, the Braves went from cooked to cooking. <span>Dansby Swanson</span> started the sixth with a leadoff "double" that resulted from <span>Lewis Brinson</span> getting a terrible break on a ball hit to him in left. After Freddie Freeman grounded out, moving <span>Swanson</span> to third, <span>Vincent</span> walked Ozuna, bringing up Nick Markakis. He fell behind 0-2 at first, but then managed to bloop a donut hole single behind the second baseman, scoring the game's first run. <span>Adam Duvall</span> nearly crushed a three-run homer afterwards, but it was just a loud flyout and the Braves had to settle for a lone run.</p>
<p id="ZllfGF">That would have been enough, but they got some more in the seventh, anyway. <span>Ender Inciarte</span> and <span>Swanson</span> collected two-out hits off new reliever <span>Justin Shafer</span>, and Freeman drew a walk against sidewinding lefty <span>Brian Moran</span> to load the bases for Ozuna. After falling behind 1-2, Ozuna took three straight balls to force in the second Atlanta run. Markakis then jumped all over Moran's first offering to him and smashed it into right for a two-run double.</p>
<p id="5tQlB8">The Braves were otherwise bamboozled by the switch-pitching shenanigans of <span>Pat Venditte</span> in the eighth and ninth, but no matter, as the relief corps slammed the door for the team's 13th victory and a share of first place in the division.</p>
https://www.batterypower.com/2020/8/16/21371285/erlin-bullpen-blank-marlins-as-braves-win-4-0Ivan the Great2020-08-16T12:40:00-04:002020-08-16T12:40:00-04:00Game Thread, 8/16/2020: Braves @ Marlins
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<figcaption>Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images</figcaption>
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<p>Robbie Erlin and the Braves vs, Elieser Hernandez and the Marlins</p> <p id="M7Pjhw">Here we go, with the <a href="https://www.talkingchop.com/">Braves</a> using a “new” starter, a new lineup, and trying to not lose a series to the <a href="https://www.fishstripes.com/">Marlins</a> for the first time since the end of 2017.</p>
<p id="Ild7gH">Will the Braves prevail, or will everyone be sad that they lost a series to the Marlins? Stay tuned.</p>
https://www.batterypower.com/2020/8/16/21370990/game-thread-8-16-2020-braves-marlinsIvan the Great2020-08-16T11:00:00-04:002020-08-16T11:00:00-04:00Freeman hits second as depleted Braves lineup scooches up
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<figcaption>Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images</figcaption>
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<p>I never thought I would see this. I’m still not sure it’s actually happening.</p> <p id="fwyn4B">Throughout his <a href="https://www.talkingchop.com/">Braves</a> tenure, <span>Freddie Freeman</span> has often been his team’s best hitter. Yet, he’s generally been penciled into the three spot in the lineup, in accordance with a traditional approach that doesn’t properly appreciate the pitfalls associated with hitting your best bat third. For a long time, there has been something been a din and a clamor for <span>Freeman</span> to hit second.</p>
<p id="aUrOOM">In this series finale against the <a href="https://www.fishstripes.com/">Marlins</a>... it appears to be finally happening? Yes, <span>Freeman</span> has moved up into the lineup’s second spot behind Dansby Swanson. It will be only the second time in his career he was slotted into the two-hole, with the first coming in April 2011. In his career, <span>Freeman</span> has taken hacks in every lineup spot but leadoff, but has gotten at least 25 PAs in each of those spots, except second, where he’s batted only six times. </p>
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<p id="ft5oEj">The rest of the lineup moves up behind him. <span>Marcell Ozuna</span> bats third, and in a sign that despite the happy circumstance of Freeman batting second, the Braves just don’t <em>get it</em>, <span>Nick Markakis</span> hits cleanup. </p>
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<p lang="en" dir="ltr">Looking to close out the road trip with a W.<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ForTheA?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ForTheA</a> <a href="https://t.co/zHK50G3FLO">pic.twitter.com/zHK50G3FLO</a></p>— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) <a href="https://twitter.com/Braves/status/1295006366504046593?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 16, 2020</a>
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<p id="vinYn8">The Marlins’ lineup is mostly familiar faces at this point given that this is the series finale. <span>Lewin Diaz</span>, who got his first career hit in his first career PA yesterday, makes his first career start, hitting cleanup and playing first base. Former Brave Ryan Lavarnway gets the start at catcher.</p>
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<p lang="en" dir="ltr">Game 15 of 60 • Rubber match with ATL leaves the winner in 1st place and LEWIN DÍAZ IS YOUR CLEANUP HITTER • The starting 9 behind starting pitcher Elieser Hernandez <a href="https://t.co/Wc7kGajZSG">pic.twitter.com/Wc7kGajZSG</a></p>— Swings and Mishes (@SwingsAndMishes) <a href="https://twitter.com/SwingsAndMishes/status/1294994656900653056?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 16, 2020</a>
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<p id="inf4D0">Both Freeman and <span>Charlie Culberson</span> (not starting), have taken <span>Elieser Hernandez</span> deep previously. Only five Marlins have faced <span>Robbie Erlin</span>, ever — their roster has fewer than 20 combined PAs against the southpaw.</p>
https://www.batterypower.com/2020/8/16/21370913/atlanta-braves-miami-marlins-lineup-august-16-2020-freddie-freeman-second-exclamation-pointIvan the Great2020-08-16T09:00:00-04:002020-08-16T09:00:00-04:00Castaway Erlin will try to rescue Braves as they attempt to solve Hernandez in Miami finale
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<img alt="MLB: Atlanta Braves at Philadelphia Phillies" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/ix-0cHUZUHbw_o3gyEzBxagm5uI=/0x0:2796x1864/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/67210719/usa_today_14724261.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports</figcaption>
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<p>Yes, Robbie Erlin is starting for the Braves this afternoon</p> <p id="HrcP8I">If you had <span>Robbie Erlin</span> as the first pitcher from outside the Atlanta organization to make a start for them in 2020, congratulations. You are a wizard. </p>
<p id="BzBgQr">Everyone else, though, may be a bit confused, and perhaps perplexed, as to how <span>Erlin</span> is today’s scheduled starter for the series finale in Miami, but that’s the world we find ourselves in. Erlin spent his entire career through 2019 with the <a href="https://www.gaslampball.com/">Padres</a>, but elected free agency when he was outrighted to the minors at the end of last season. He likely would’ve been non-tendered anyway, as the Padres were apparently loath to pay more than a million or two for a reliever with still-good peripherals (82 FIP-, 93 xFIP-) when he was giving up both hard contact and runs (126 ERA-, .335 xwOBA, .400 xwOBACON). That was the end of the Erlin saga in San Diego, which was ultimately successful: 3.9 fWAR in 313 innings, split about 33/67 between starts and relief appearances. After he left the Padres, the <a href="https://www.bucsdugout.com/">Pirates</a> scooped Erlin up on a minor league deal. He made their 2020 roster, but made just two relief appearances before being cut. The <a href="https://www.talkingchop.com/">Braves</a> claimed him off waivers, but his first appearance in an Atlanta uniform was pretty awful: his very first pitch as a Brave became a <span>Didi Gregorius</span> grand slam that turned a 5-1 deficit into a 9-1 rout, and three pitches later, <span>Jean Segura</span> went back-to-back with <span>Gregorius</span>. Later in the outing, <span>J.T. Realmuto</span> also took Erlin deep, giving him only his second three-homer outing of his career, and the first since 2016.</p>
<p id="PAytME">It goes without saying that the Braves are probably going to be hoping for something more akin to 2018 Erlin (1.6 fWAR in 106 innings as a swingman) than whatever happened last Monday in relief of Sean Newcomb. Whether that’s what they get... we’ll see. It’s hard to tell exactly what Erlin’s fate is going to be — was he justifiably exiled from two organizations due to a decrease ability to manage contact, as he showed in 2019, or was it a blip and he presents a quality, if unorthodox, long relief option? We won’t know definitively after this outing, but we’ll at least be able to start gathering some ideas.</p>
<p id="4gImGr">Meanwhile, the ailing Braves will potentially have their hands full as they try to put some runs on the board. The Braves have only scored seven runs in their last three games, and the offense has dropped to 13th in MLB (101 wRC+) from seventh (103 wRC+) at the beginning of the week. Starting for Miami will be <span>Elieser Hernandez</span>, who has two small things going for him: (1) his best career start, six shutout innings, came against the Braves in August 2019; and (2) <span>Hernandez</span> has been solid through two 2020 starts, with a 10/2 K/BB ratio and one longball allowed. Neither of these things mean much in the grand scheme of things, <span>Hernandez</span> still has an xFIP above 5.00 both in 2020 and for his career, and his career fWAR is still negative, but you can bet people will point to all three of these things (weak Braves offense, <span>Hernandez</span> being good against the Braves, Hernandez being good in 2020) if the Braves scuffle to score runs once again.</p>
<p id="lyqCdG">Hernandez has definitely been better against the Braves in his career than his overall performance — 5.40s FIP/xFIP in general, and 4.51 FIP / 4.82 xFIP against the Braves in eight career appearances. In the three starts, the Braves roughed him up twice and he cruised in the other, which was the game that <span>Dallas Keuchel</span> completely imploded out of nowhere.</p>
<p id="fhe5og">If the Braves lose this game, it will be their first series loss to the <a href="https://www.fishstripes.com/">Marlins</a> since the end of the 2017 season, as they have absolutely dominated the Fish in 2018 and 2019. But, it’s 2020, everything is weird (and sad), so we’ll see what happens.</p>
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<p id="PMshFJ"><strong>Game Info</strong></p>
<p id="6T9GAa">Atlanta Braves @ Miami Marlins</p>
<p id="jw6ga2">Sunday, August 16, 2020</p>
<p id="bH2Sfb">1:10 pm EDT</p>
<p id="v0VRT3">Marlins Park, Miami, FL</p>
<p id="KGJnDR">TV: Fox Sports South, MLB Network (out of market), MLB.tv</p>
<p id="JXyHli">Radio: 680 AM/93.7 FM The Fan, WNNX 100.5, Braves Radio Network</p>
<p id="PxfJpG">XM Radio: XM Streaming 841</p>
https://www.batterypower.com/2020/8/16/21370831/atlanta-braves-miami-marlins-preview-august-16-2020-robbie-erlin-elieser-hernandezIvan the Great