Takeaways from Atlanta's 7-5 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks in the series finale

Atlanta came back late to win after some late fireworks from Austin Riley and Matt Olson

Lindsay Crosby | Jul 20, 2023

The Atlanta Braves took down the Arizona Diamondbacks, 7-5, in the series finale on Thursday afternoon in Truist Park. What can we learn from this contest?

The bullpen injuries have a cascading effect through the roster

Atlanta's seemingly losing a pitcher week to the injured list - first it was Jesse Chavez to a shin contusion, just before the All-Star Break. Then it was Nick Anderson, with a shoulder injury that's probably going to end his season. AJ Minter is on the 15-day IL, and Atlanta's remaining relievers are being ridden hard, especially when both Kolby Allard (injury) and Bryce Elder (ineffectiveness) left their most recent starts early.

Spencer Strider was the victim today.

With Strider dealing against Arizona - thirteen strikeouts, with no walks and only two hits through six scoreless innings - manager Brian Snitker made the decision to send Strider back out for the 7th to save the bullpen a bit. It makes sense; with tomorrow's off-day for rest, you'd theoretically have everyone available on Friday night against Milwaukee.

In retrospect, maybe that was flying too close to the sun. On a 95-degree day in Atlanta, Strider faltered in the 7th and the first four runners made him pay: Corbin Carroll walk, Christian Walker HBP, Dominic Canzone 3-run homer, Emmanuel Rivera homer. Strider exited the game with Arizona leading 4-1 and no outs.

In retrospect, the walk and HBP should have been the end of Strider's day, but Ben Heller, Kirby Yates, and Raisel Iglesias combined for three innings of relief with two hits, one walk, one run, and two strikeouts. Yates was the pitcher of record when the Braves took the lead, so he gets the win (his 4th of the year), and Iglesias got the save, his 17th.

Austin Riley continued his torrid series, and Matt Olson joined the party

Austin Riley's been as hot as you can possibly be in this series - after two homeruns and 7 RBIs in game one and another homerun in game two, he hit a triple and a homerun in consecutive innings in this one to give him eleven RBIs and four homers on the series.

Matt Olson, who went 0-5 with four walks and a run scored in the first two games of the series, finally got a chance to put the ball in the air and he capitalized.

Olson hit back to back homeruns in the 7th and 8th innings, the first a two-run bomb that brought in Riley from 3rd to bring the Braves within one, and the 2nd an insurance run in the 8th after Riley's homerun gave Atlanta a 6-5 lead.

The final homer gave Olson 80 RBIs on the season, tying him with Texas's Adolis Garcia for the most in baseball.

Safe to say Orlando Arcia's slump is over

After a rough stretch in late June where he went 7-51, bringing his batting average down from .341 to "only" .296, Arcia's been on a mini-heater after coming back from the All-Star Game. He picked up two runs and a RBI on two hits in the series opener against the White Sox, and went 3-10 with three runs scored, three RBIs, and a homerun against Arizona.

His 6th inning bomb off of Arizona starter Zac Gallen broke up the perfect game and kickstarted Atlanta's offense - the Braves would pick up a "cycle" in the next five at-bats, with a Michael Harris II double, a Ronald Acuña Jr single, an Austin Riley triple and a Matt Olson homer to put three runs on Gallen's total by the end of his outing in the 7th inning.

Today's win continued an amazing streak for Atlanta

The Braves had lost four straight games entering today. Today's win doesn't change the fact that they lost the series, their 2nd straight series loss after winning eleven consecutive in June and the first part of July, but it kept one wild feat intact:

The Atlanta Braves haven't had a losing streak of five games or more since 2017, the only team in baseball that can say that. They twice lost four games this season, in late April (the series finale against the Padres and a three game sweep by Houston) and again in mid May (the final game against Boston and a three game sweep by Toronto), but cut this one off in time to keep their streak alive.

So what's next for the Braves?

Atlanta loads up and flies to Milwaukee tonight, where they'll take on the Brewers in a three game series starting tomorrow in American Family Field. Michael Soroka (1-1, 5.40 ERA) gets the start against RHP Freddy Peralta (6-7, 4.41 ERA). First pitch is scheduled for 8:10 PM ET. The Braves broadcast, with Voice of the Braves Brandon Gaudin, is available inside Braves Country on Bally Sports South and is available on MLB.TV outside of the broadcast area. The radio call, with Ben Ingram, is available locally on 680 AM/93.7 FM The Fan or outside the Atlanta market on the Atlanta Braves Radio Network or MLB.com.

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Published Jul 20, 2023

LINDSAY CROSBY

Managing Editor for Braves Today and the 2023 IBWAA Prospects/Minors Writer of the Year. You can reach him at contact@bravestoday.com