Takeaways from the Atlanta Braves' game two win vs. St. Louis
On an eventful evening for what was a fairly low-scoring game, the Braves claimed a series victory over the hated Cardinals Tuesday night. Here are some key points.
Ladies and Gentlemen, Dylan Dodd
I covered it more thoroughly in an earlier article tonight, but the biggest story tonight has to be Dylan Dodd. Back in Missouri (where he played his college ball) and in front of a vocal contingent of family members, the rookie southpaw came up big tonight. Five innings, one earned run, three Ks and no walks will play pretty much every night for this team, especially if the position players bring both the lumber and the leather like they did tonight.
Dodd was efficient and composed, two extremely promising signs for a young starter. The Redbird lineup is one of the league's best, and Dodd was able to essentially dominate them the first time through before having to pitch out of some jams on the second go-around. He even overcame what is often an underappreciated nemesis for a young pitcher, his own defensive mistake. It helped having some strong defense played behind him, but more on that in another takeaway.
Early-Inning Power Surge
Just as they did last night and in game two at Washington, the Braves tatered early and often against Cardinal lefty Steven Matz. Matz had some good luck against Atlanta while with the Mets, but a 3-2 hanging slider to Austin Riley got blasted in the first and Orlando Arcia jumped on an early-count sinker in the second to stake Dodd and the Braves to an early 3-0 lead.
And quietly, new Braves catcher Sean Murphy showed some stuff tonight. He called a great game for the young Dodd, and he made an excellent snag on an errant pitch with runners on base during one of what became many attempted Cardinal rallies. That was just a little reminder of what kind of defender he is..but the thing that may play the best going forward was his two-out RBI single off Matz in the third. He'd been hitless until then, but that was a nice way to get off the schneid.
DE-FENSE, DE-FENSE, DE-FENSE
It was a big night in the field for the club. Here's just a taste...
And there could've been more. Eddie Rosario made a sliding catch in left, Murphy had the aforementioned key stop on a possible wild pitch, Austin Riley made a second nice play in the ninth to retire Tyler O'Neill, and the game ended on a sliding catch by Matt Olson in foul territory. Some of these plays were more difficult than others, but the Braves made them all and while dealing with steady rain during the late innings. Also, AJ Minter was nasty. While it would be nice to keep scoring in the game's latter stages, otherwise this was a near perfect night for the club. The Braves go for the sweep tomorrow before returning home to face the Daddies for their home opener on Thursday night.
The Atlanta Braves take on the St. Louis Cardinals in the third game of the series Wednesday at 1:15 pm ET from Busch Stadium. The broadcast, with Voice of the Braves Brandon Gaudin, is available inside Braves Country on Bally Sports Southeast, 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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