Takeaways: Elder keys Atlanta to 6-0 series-opening win at Miami
The Braves shook off any lingering fatigue from yesterday's doubleheader, easily dispatching the Marlins in Miami tonight. Here are some takeaways.
Elder God
The star of the show tonight was Bryce Elder, who was paired up against reigning NL Cy Young Award-winner Sandy Alcantara for the second time in as many starts tonight. Atlanta won the first meeting between the two, but Alcantara had the better outing last week. The Braves got the win again tonight, but this time Elder solidly outpitched his opposite number.
Left off that graphic was arguably the most important stat - pitch count. While Alcantara labored against the Atlanta offense, firing 103 pitches through his five innings of work, Elder was highly efficient, cruising through seven shutout innings in 96 pitches. He issued no walks, and the Marlins only mustered four baserunners against him (three singles and an error, with one of the singles cut down trying to stretch to a double). Bryce has pitched against Miami a hilarious number of times in his young career (six of his fifteen career starts have come against the Fish), but that familiarity did nothing for the opposing offense tonight, who just couldn't get anything going: Elder only allowed one man to reach second, and that came on a balk, with the inning ending immediately afterward.
Drip Drip Drip
Any kind of offense against Alcantara is good offense, and the Braves won tonight by, for the most part, doing nothing particularly flashy. Ozzie Albies did launch a tater to open the scoring...
..but the club just tacked on however they could from there. The second run came in on a double-play grounder off Eddie Rosario's bat. The third run was the result of a two-out single by Rosario, with this run not quite chasing Alcantara, but essentially ending any chance he had of pitching past the fifth.
The Miami bullpen was assigned the remainder of the contest, and three of their relievers pitched rather well. Johan Quezada, however, had an absolutely brutal night, putting up a grotesque line of 0.2 IP, 1 hit, 5 BBs, 0 Ks, 3 ER. This came on 32 pitches, with only nine going for strikes. He left with the bases loaded, though the Braves could do no further damage.
Other Notes
Speaking of bullpens, the Braves' relievers have been more than a little shaky of late, and with the doubleheader yesterday, it was especially clutch of Elder to pitch deep tonight. The eighth and ninth innings were relatively quiet affairs, as Kirby Yates worked around a pitch clock-violation-fueled walk in the former frame, while Joe Jiménez pitched around a loud, somewhat confusing ground-rule double in the latter inning.
Otherwise, tonight is perhaps notable for an increasingly rare Marcell Ozuna sighting (he didn't play at all against the Mets, even with a doubleheader in the mix). Rarer still is that he was actually productive, singling twice, drawing a walk, and scoring a run. As you would likely guess, this was both his first multi-hit game of the season and the first game where he reached base more than twice. I'm not going to speculate on any sort of hot streak from the long-slumping slugger, but you'd figure we're pretty close to the end of the organization's patience if he doesn't replicate tonight's success more often.
Also it should be noted that Ronald Acuña played the entire game and looked completely fine after yesterday's beanball from Mets starter Tylor Megill. Ronald even took the time to show off his Olympic gymnastic form while stealing second base tonight, adding to his Major League lead in that category (he has 14 now).
On Deck
The same two clubs are back at it same time tomorrow night. First pitch will be at 6:40 ET. Kyle Wright looks to get the start for the Braves, while the Marlins counter with southpaw Braxton Garrett. This is a rematch of the starters from the game last Thursday afternoon, though neither player factored much into the outcome of that contest as Atlanta's bullpen blew a save in the ninth, with Miami scoring three to come back and avoid a sweep.
The broadcast, with Voice of the Braves Brandon Gaudin, is available inside Braves Country on Bally Sports South and 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.
More Stories from the Marlins series
WATCH: Eddie Rosario knocks in Matt Olson for the second time tonight, pushes Braves lead to 3-0
WATCH: Ozzie Albies takes Sandy Alcantara deep to give Braves early lead at Miami
Braves Briefing: Ronald Acuña injury update
Podcast: Is Ronald Acuña okay?
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