Takeaways: The Atlanta Braves win the series opener over the San Diego Padres

The Atlanta Braves took an early 2-0 lead and held on to win the first game in their trip out west to San Diego.

The Atlanta Braves entered San Diego with revenge on their mind, and got a slice of it thanks to a 2-0 game one victory.

After dropping three out of four games to the Padres earlier this season, the Braves rode a winning streak into San Diego and won their seventh straight game Monday night.

Here are some of the takeaways from the action.

Death, Taxes, and Max Fried curveballs

Max Fried made his first start after being activated from the IL after suffering an injury on Opening Day. To say he looked just fine in his return would be an understatement.

Fried pitched five innings, allowed four hits, struck out four, and kept the Padres off the scoreboard before being relieved by Dylan Lee.

It wouldn't be a successful Fried start without a nasty changeup in his rotation. It was good to see Fried dealing back on the mound.

For the game, Fried went five innings with four hits, no runs, no walks, and four strikeouts.

Max Fried, Filthy 88mph Changeup. 👌 pic.twitter.com/ludjXVw6JY

— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) April 18, 2023

Ronald Acuña continues to be the best player in baseball

It seems like every night, a new stat about Ronald Acuña's production in 2023 pops up. After tonight's game, Acuña is 2nd in all of baseball with 54.4% of his balls in play being over 100 mph, right behind Blue Jays 3B Matt Chapman and right ahead of Yankees slugger Giancarlo Stanton. 

Acuña reached base with a leadoff double and would eventually score thanks to a homerun by Austin Riley, finishing 3-4 on the night. These were the only two runs in the contest.

Marcell Ozuna looked...better?

To put it kindly, Ozuna has not performed at the plate this season. Monday night, he hit a fair ball down the left field line and eventually led the way to Atlanta loading the bases with no outs before the Padres ended the inning allowing no more runs.

Later in the game, Ozuna made solid contact and was close to getting a homerun to extend the lead for Atlanta but it didn't quite have enough on it.

Still, batting .093 at the plate, a one-hit night shouldn't feel like a good night for anyone, especially a veteran making $16 million this season.

Dylan Lee stepped up out of the bullpen

As our own Jake Mastroianni discussed earlier today, the Braves bullpen has answered the call so far this season, being top five in ERA (2.95) and 2nd in WHIP (1.02) entering Monday night. 

Dylan Lee got the ball after Max Fried's exit and was absolutely nails, giving up only one hit through his two innings of relief and striking out four. Working both the fastball up in the zone and the breaking stuff down, he closed the outing by striking out the three of the final four batters he faced to preserve the lead. Jesse Chavez worked the 8th and AJ Minter collected the save in the 9th to preserve the series-opening victory.

What's next

Tuesday night's game is a nightcap for Braves fans, with first pitch scheduled for 9:40 ET. The game 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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