Atlanta Braves, Matt Olson Enter August on High Note

Matt Olson and the Atlanta Braves are heating up as they finish July with a bang and close the gap on the Philadelphia Phillies.

Matt Olson and Travis d'Arnaud powered the Atlanta Braves to a 6-2 win over the Milwaukee Brewers on Wednesday. / Michael McLoone-USA TODAY Sports

The Atlanta Braves enter the month of August on a high note. With the explosive 6-2 win over the Central leading Milwaukee Brewers, they have now won four of their last five after a six-game losing streak. 

They found a way to claw back and split the Mets’ series in Queens before going into Milwaukee and finding a way to take two out of three. 

“Yeah, it’s big,” Braves catcher Travis d’Arnaud, who hit two home runs in Wednesday’s finale, said. “We can’t look too far ahead, too far back, so after we were down the first two in New York, we just knew we had to win the next one to be able to split it and fortunately able to do that and same thing here. We’ve lost game one of a series before and [be] able to come back and win.”

d’Arnaud added a tongue-in-cheek comment on the addition of Jorge Soler already making an impact. 

“Fortunately, Soler’s power’s here. We’re getting some of his power. That’s why I hit a couple homers, because Jorge is here.” 

These two home runs came as part of two back-to-backs with Matt Olson, who needed a power showing badly after struggles at the plate. Olson now has four home runs in his last five games.

This is the first time that Braves hitters have gone back-to-back twice in a game since 1998. 

🗣️TRAVY JUST WENT BACK-TO-BACK 𝘼𝙂𝘼𝙄𝙉😱 pic.twitter.com/xf9AEVHl34

— Bally Sports: Braves (@BravesOnBally) July 31, 2024

Perhaps this team has some fight in them still after all, and taking down a team that’s at the top of the National League Central isn’t too shabby either. 

Better yet, they now find themselves six and a half games back of the first-place Philadelphia Phillies after being nine and a half back just a week ago. The Phillies are in the midst of a four-game losing streak. If they can just chip away another three games in August, this division race could get very interesting in the final weeks of the season. 

A favorable series coming up certainly helps if they can take advantage of it. The Braves have a four-game series at home against the Marlins to finish up the week. 

That series starts on Thursday with a 7:20 p.m. first pitch. Charlie Morton and Spencer Schwellenbach are scheduled to start the first two games of the season with the back end of the series schedule to be determined. 

Things haven’t gone as planned since the official second half started. But now it’s a new month. Fresh start. Fresh faces on the roster. Time to turn heads. 

Oops, he did it again🤭

Double dinger-day for Matt Olson. pic.twitter.com/BBRySFAyHI

— Bally Sports: Braves (@BravesOnBally) July 31, 2024