Braves’ bats’ big blasts back battling Morton from behind in 14-6 win

Looking to complete the four game sweep, the Braves were hoping for a strong start from the veteran Charlie Morton.

Morton had a strange first inning, hitting the first batter and allowing a one out homer, striking out the other three batters in the inning. The Braves didn’t manage a baserunner in their half of the inning, despite a ball scalded off of Ronald Acuna’s bat. Charlie got into some trouble as a result of a lack of command and some bad BABIP and fielding luck in the second, as he allowed two unlucky singles, two walks, and a fielding error, eventually resulting in three runs scored, putting the score at 5-0.

The Braves offense still had their part to play, however, and a one out walk from Matt Olson and single from Marcell Ozuna were cashed in with a three run bomb from Eddie Rosario.

Harris, Acuna, and Albies loaded the bases with two outs in front of Austin Riley with a single and two walks, respectively, but Austin had a pretty brutal plate appearance, softly grounding out on a 2-0 cutter thrown right down the middle to end the inning.

Charlie got a deep flyout, hit a batter and got a ground ball double play in the third inning, holding the deficit at two. Matt Olson hit a one out double in the bottom third and scored on a soft Eddie Rosario single. Eddie was stranded as Orlando Arcia flied out to end the inning. Charlie had a solid fourth, allowing only a bunt single, striking out two. The Braves offense got things cooking again in the bottom of the fourth, as Michael Harris led the inning off with a double and Ronald Acuna worked a walk before Albies blasted the Braves into the lead with a big homer.

Charlie threatened to give the lead right back, as he allowed a single and a walk to start the fifth, but came back to strike out the next three Rockies to hold the lead and end what was a shaky outing on a strong note. It was an up and down outing for Charlie, as he walked three and allowed a homer, but struck out eight, allowing four earned runs of the five that scored.

Eddie walked to lead off the home fifth, followed by an infield single for Orlando before Michael went into absolute launch mode with a monster 453 foot homer hit 110.5 MPH off the bat.

Collin McHugh allowed a soft single and a walk, but danced through the raindrops to escape with a scoreless inning in the top sixth. The Braves bats got back to bopping in the bottom sixth, as a one out walk from Ozuna was brought home with another homer from the absolutely scalding hot Eddie Rosario. Orlando and Michael singled, but a questionable strike three call on Ronald and an Ozzie groundout ended the inning.

Kirby Yates got the seventh and allowed a deep homer to dead center on his first pitch. He stopped the bleeding there, despite allowing a single and a double. Travis hit a one out double that nearly left the ballpark in the home half and Olson brought him home with a double of his own. After another strong inning from Ben Heller in the eighth, consecutive singles from Michael, Ronald, and Ozzie added on another run for Atlanta. Michael Harris became the first Brave to have five hits in a game since Nick Markakis in 2019. That was the end of the scoring for the game, as Raisel Iglesias finished the Rockies off, completing the four game sweep of the Rockies.

After an off-day on Monday, the Braves head to Philadelphia for a three game series against the recently surging division rival.