Braves Walk Off Diamondbacks in Ten Innings After Heroic Bullpen Effort

The Atlanta Braves overcame a slow start offensively to come back and win in dramatic fashion

Atlanta Braves catcher Travis d'Arnaud (16) reacts after his game-winning single defeated the Arizona Diamondbacks in extra innings on Friday night. / Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports

The Atlanta Braves took down the Arizona Diamondbacks in extra innings, 6-5, for their third home opener walkoff win in the short history of Truist Park, which opened in 2017.

Here’s what you need to know about from the outing:

Spencer Strider wasn’t himself

What a weird outing. The night didn’t start out the right way for Strider, who was originally planned to go on Wednesday against the Chicago White Sox and got pushed back to tonight due to rain and snow. 

Strider gave up a leadoff homer to Arizona second baseman Ketel Marte on a hanging slider, and Eugenio Suarez picked up two more RBIs on a 107 mph double off the right-center wall. 

Outside of those two hits, it was a lot of soft contact on the night for Strider, with four Arizona base hits coming on batted balls of under 75 mph. Strider’s stuff also wasn’t as effective as normal, with his fastball averaging only 95.9 mph in the outing (down 1.3 mph from his last start) and only getting a total of twelve whiffs. 

Not twelve whiffs on the fastball, twelve period. It’s the sixth-lowest total of his career when looking at outings of 80 or more pitches. Strider actually only picked up four whiffs on the fastball, out of 27 swings. 

After the game, manager Brian Snitker confirmed that Strider was complaining of elbow discomfort after the start and will be undergoing an MRI on Saturday. Elbow injuries combined with reduced velo is a scary situation for any pitcher, but especially one who is potentially the lynchpin of the Braves staff and MLB's reigning strikeout leader.

The offense struggled to get a timely hit...until they didn’t

Off of Arizona starter Tommy Henry in his five innings, Atlanta left eight runners on base and went 1-for-6 with runners in scoring position. The Braves actually loaded the bases in the 4th inning with only one out, but an absolutely dreadful strike-three call on Ronald Acuña Jr. and a groundout by Ozzie Albies eliminated any chance Atlanta had of reducing the deficit. 

Ronald Acuña Jr. was called out on strikes with the bases loaded. #Braves' rally fizzles.

I guess file that one under, "Too close to take."

Which I'm here to tell you should never be a thing. pic.twitter.com/ihqA7jW0c8

— Grant McAuley (@grantmcauley) April 6, 2024

Henry actually finished his outing with a better line than Strider, going five innings with six hits but only two runs allowed, walking two and striking out five on 102 pitches (70 strikes). 

Atlanta finished the game with thirteen runners left on base and went only 4-13 with runners in scoring position - two of those hits with runners in scoring position came in the 9th (Kelenic’s double) and 10th (d’Arnaud’s walkoff).

But when it mattered, the Braves hitters came through. Jarred Kelenic picked up his first RBI in Truist Park as a member of the Atlanta Braves (he had a home run against Atlanta last summer while playing for the visiting Seattle Mariners), and Travis d'Arnaud drove home "ghost runner" Forrest Wall with a single off the centerfield wall for the win in the tenth inning.

Seriously, what happened to dominating lefty starters? 

This Braves team was absolutely savage against lefty starters last season, to the point that teams started configuring their rotations to protect their lefthanders from even having to face Atlanta. The Braves faced a league-low 32 lefty starters in 2023, and with good reason: Atlanta went 23-9 in those games, with a slash line of .290/.354/.526 and 60 homers. 

But this year, Henry’s the third lefty to contain Atlanta’s offense, as Ranger Suarez (Philadelphia) went five innings with three runs on three hits, walking one and striking out seven. Garrett Crochet (White Sox) followed that up with seven innings of three-hit, one run ball, striking out eight and walking only one. 

It’s a small sample, mind you, but Atlanta’s already one-third of the way to their total number of losses against lefty starters and the season is a grand total of six games old. Just odd. 

Atlanta’s bullpen depth is absurd

Let’s talk about Atlanta’s bullpen depth for a second - Atlanta used Jesse Chavez, Joe Jimenez, Aaron Bummer, and Raisel Iglesias for the final five innings off regulation, and they allowed no runs, giving up only two hits and three walks while striking out four. 

And Atlanta still had Pierce Johnson available for the 10th inning, where he struck out two of the three batters in a scoreless inning. This is the same Johnson who, after being acquired from the Colorado Rockies at the deadline last year, had a 0.76 ERA down the stretch last year in 23.2 innings, striking out 32 and walking only five. 

And behind Johnson, if the game extended beyond the 10th inning, were both lefties AJ Minter and Tyler Matzek. Not a bad scenario to be in if the game required heading to extra innings.

Jesse Chavez, once again, was the unexpected hero, coming into the game earlier than anyone thought would be necessary and throwing two scoreless innings of relief - after he walked the first batter he faced, he retired the next six batters to complete his outing.

What's next for the Atlanta Braves?

The Braves take on Arizona tomorrow at 7:20 PM ET, with Max Fried on the mound against postseason hero Brandon Pfaadt.