Highlights from the Braves’ series win over the Phillies

The Atlanta Braves picked up a series win over the Philadelphia Phillies with a 6-0 blowout on Sunday afternoon. The win pushed Atlanta 49–39, 10 games back of .500, and cut their deficit in the NL East to eight games. The Braves are 4-2 and have won both series against the Phillies this season. The two teams will play seven more times, including a three-game series at Truist Park on August 20–22 and a four-game series in Philly from August 29 to September 2.

The series win was one the Braves desperately needed, especially after losing ten games earlier. Atlanta entered Sunday with just a 12.3% chance of winning the division according to FanGraphs, but that’s a significant stretch for Atlanta before heading into the All-Star break.

The Braves will now head back on the road for a seven-game western trip before heading into the break. They will play four games in Arizona and then three in San Diego. As things stand, the Braves have a three-game lead over the Padres for the first wild card spot. The Diamondbacks are 2.5 games behind the Cardinals for the final wild card spot. So, even though there are still more than two months left, these head-to-head games against playoff contenders are important. The Braves were only 5-4 on their homestand and have been a sub-.500 team since their 20-9 start. Finishing the first half strongly and carrying some momentum into the break would be huge for a team that has struggled over the past two months.

Jared Kelenic is coming back with a big hit

After putting up a .304/.356/.543 line in June, Jared Kelenic is just 5 of 23 at the plate through the first six games in July. However, he came up with another big hit for the Braves Sunday, a three-run homer off Phillies starter Michael Mercado, giving Atlanta some relief. When the season began, the Braves expected Kelenic to bat lower in the order and give him room to suit up. However, injuries to Ronald Acuña Jr. and Michael Harris II have thrust Kelenic into a more prominent role and he has largely delivered. Since May 7, Kelenic is hitting .277/.317/.514 with all ten of his home runs.

Since moving to the leadoff spot on June 15, he is hitting .298/.341/.560 and has reached base to start games in eight of 21 games. Even before Sunday’s homer, Kelenic had largely become what the Braves probably wanted to see from him: a guy who does massive damage when he makes contact, even if it took a bunch of plate discipline to get there. Had to give up.

Adam Duvall’s popularity continues to rise

There is a small sample size caveat, but given Adam Duvall’s recent struggles, we’ll take any signs of progress into consideration. Duvall opened the scoring Sunday with a solo home run and finished triple shy of the cycle. It was his second three-hit game in July.

We reported during the first homestand that many of Duvall’s metrics were in the right place, but the results haven’t exactly panned out. Making a few improvements during this final stretch before the All-Star break could provide a significant boost.

ozzy albies promotion

Ozzie Albie’s nine-game hitting streak ended Sunday, but he capped a nice homestand. Albies had 13 hits in his last nine games, including three consecutive multi-hit games before his hit on Sunday. He hit homers in the first two games against the Phillies, making it four consecutive games with homers in the season-opening series against Philadelphia. It was the longest stretch by a Braves player since Brian McCann homered in six consecutive games against the Phillies in 2012. Albies’ homer on Saturday had an exit velocity of 113.7 mph, the hardest hit ball of his career.

Albies and Kelenic have both trended significantly upward, to the point where their offensive inputs are slightly above average, which is a vast improvement compared to the .300ish xwOBA valley where they were both previously found.

Bullpen continues to perform well

The Braves bullpen entered Sunday’s game leading the National League with a 3.00 ERA. It was only a matter of time before he threw three more scoreless innings to secure the series victory. Atlanta relievers allowed only one earned run in nine innings in the series. Now if there was a way to use them more often…

Spencer Schwellenbach’s success continues

Spencer Schwellenbach gave the Braves a big lead on Saturday by allowing one run in six innings with six strikeouts. This outing came after Max Fried struggled in the series-opening loss. Schwellenbach still has a 5.02 ERA for the season, but his 3.57 FIP and 3.62 xFIP are more representative of how he has pitched recently. Since 1966, he is the 11th pitcher in franchise history to have multiple outings of at least six innings while allowing one run or less in each of his first eight career appearances. He is the first player to do so since Bryce Elder in 2022. Atlanta gave Schwellenbach five runs to work with in Saturday’s start, which undoubtedly helped. He scored a combined total of 11 runs in his first six starts.

Schwellenbach has already set new heights in his career in innings pitched as a professional and it’s unclear how the Braves plan to manage his workload after the break. AJ Smith-Shawer is working to recover from an oblique injury and Ian Anderson could also be an option in the final few months of the season. However, Schwellenbach has done a good job of holding down the fifth spot and is showing that he can play a bigger role in the near future.

Although Schwellenbach has had a lot of struggles as a result of going exclusively deep into games, he has a very diverse arsenal that makes him significantly different than most starters the Braves have developed and/or deployed in recent history. Is. It will be interesting to see whether this works out in his favor or to his detriment, and how his career develops from here – provided he can avoid injury, which is a tall order for any pitcher.