Battery Power - July 6: Braves 3, Cardinals 0Your one stop shop for everything Atlanta Braveshttps://cdn.vox-cdn.com/community_logos/52890/favicon-32x32..png2022-07-06T21:52:49-04:00http://www.batterypower.com/rss/stream/229607152022-07-06T21:52:49-04:002022-07-06T21:52:49-04:00Braves clinch series with 3-0 win over Cardinals
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<figcaption>Photo by Brett Davis/Getty Images</figcaption>
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<p>Marcell Ozuna and Eddie Rosario hit back-to-back home runs. </p> <p id="dBWOTf">The Atlanta Braves took another series Wednesday night with a 3-0 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals. </p>
<p id="sZtEUS">The pitching matchup between Max Fried and Miles Mikolas lived up to the billing, as both pitchers threw up zeroes over the first four innings. Fried allowed a first-inning double to Paul Goldschmidt, but got Nolan Arenado to fly out to end the inning. Albert Pujols singled in the second and then doubled in the fourth, but was left stranded both times.</p>
<p id="BoZy5C">Mikolas walked Travis d’Arnaud with one out in the second, but struck out Marcell Ozuna and got Eddie Rosario to fly out to end the threat. Atlanta’s first hit came on a two-out single by Austin Riley but he was left stranded as d’Arnaud flew out to end the inning. </p>
<p id="0SCeW2">The Braves finally broke through in the fifth when Ozuna launched a monster 446-foot home run to left for a 1-0 lead. Eddie Rosario followed with his first home run of the season, hitting it out to right to extend the lead to 2-0. </p>
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<p lang="und" dir="ltr"> 2️⃣ <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/VoteBraves?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#VoteBraves</a>: <a href="https://t.co/iIW7Hg25wZ">https://t.co/iIW7Hg25wZ</a> <a href="https://t.co/hocERD5pOZ">pic.twitter.com/hocERD5pOZ</a></p>— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) <a href="https://twitter.com/Braves/status/1544843445931474944?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 7, 2022</a>
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<p id="WjQ1bi">Fried worked into and out of a jam in the sixth. He issued a leadoff walk to Dylan Carlson, who moved up to second on a single by Goldschmidt. Arenado then grounded down the line at third where Riley fielded it, touched the bag at third and then threw to first to complete the 5-3 double play. Goldschmidt moved over to third on a wild pitch, but Fried struck out Juan Yepez on a changeup to end the inning. </p>
<p id="ttyYX3">The Braves added on against Mikolas in the sixth. Riley doubled with two outs to get things started. Travis d’Arnaud followed with a double to the left field corner to score Riley and extend the lead to 3-0. </p>
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<p lang="en" dir="ltr">d'efinitely d'ont forget to <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/VoteBraves?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#VoteBraves</a>: <a href="https://t.co/KWNDQrRru6">https://t.co/KWNDQrRru6</a> <a href="https://t.co/jni7HKeJNB">pic.twitter.com/jni7HKeJNB</a></p>— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) <a href="https://twitter.com/Braves/status/1544850629172101125?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 7, 2022</a>
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<p id="vTxTuJ">Max Fried gave way to Darren O’Day in the seventh. Fried turned in another excellent outing allowing just five hits over six scoreless innings. He struck out four and walked one while throwing 82 pitches. </p>
<p id="Kl7ymT">O’Day retired Pujols and Edmundo Sosa to start the seventh. He then hit Brendan Donovan with a pitch but struck out Andrew Knizner to end the inning. Jesse Chavez took over in the eighth and struck out the first two hitters he faced before loading the bases with two walks and a single. However, he was able to get out of it as pinch-hitter Nolan Gorman grounded to Arcia to leave them loaded. A.J. Minter closed things out in the ninth to seal the win. </p>
<p id="WbEsgH">With the win, Atlanta improves to a season-best 15 games over .500 at 49-34. They will go for a four-game sweep Thursday when Spencer Strider matches up against Matthew Liberatore. </p>
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https://www.batterypower.com/2022/7/6/23197336/cardinals-vs-braves-final-score-max-fried-eddie-rosarioKris Willis2022-07-06T18:15:00-04:002022-07-06T18:15:00-04:00Cardinals vs Braves game thread
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<figcaption>Photo by Brett Davis/Getty Images</figcaption>
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<p id="mbcpSE">The <a href="https://www.talkingchop.com/">Atlanta Braves</a> will try to make it three-straight wins Wednesday night when they continue a four-game series against the <a href="https://www.vivaelbirdos.com/">St. Louis Cardinals</a>. Max Fried will get the start for Atlanta while the Cardinals will go with right-hander Miles Mikolas. </p>
<p id="qmEEfv">For the Braves, Eddie Rosario will make his third straight start in left field and will hit seventh. Orlando Arcia returns to the lineup for the first time on the homestand at second base and will hit eighth. </p>
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<p lang="en" dir="ltr">Two things:<br><br>1️⃣ <a href="https://twitter.com/MaxFried32?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@MaxFried32</a> takes the mound tonight.<br><br>2️⃣ <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/VoteBraves?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#VoteBraves</a>: <a href="https://t.co/iIW7Hg25wZ">https://t.co/iIW7Hg25wZ</a> <a href="https://t.co/wW4sbx9LZB">pic.twitter.com/wW4sbx9LZB</a></p>— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) <a href="https://twitter.com/Braves/status/1544760133661741057?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 6, 2022</a>
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<p id="hHtebV">For the Cardinals, Tommy Edman moves back into the leadoff spot and will be followed by Dylan Carlson who will play center. Juan Yepez will get the start in left field and will hit fifth. Albert Pujols will hit sixth as the DH in his first start of the series. Andrew Kknizner will be behind the plate and will catch ninth. </p>
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<p lang="en" dir="ltr">Here is the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/STLCards?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#STLCards</a> lineup tonight against the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Braves?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Braves</a> — featuring a right-handed hitting Tommy Edman back in the leadoff spot after batting in the No. 7 slot on Tuesday: <a href="https://t.co/hftgOguRmp">pic.twitter.com/hftgOguRmp</a></p>— John Denton (@JohnDenton555) <a href="https://twitter.com/JohnDenton555/status/1544768736061685763?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 6, 2022</a>
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<p id="CEPdX1">Sunday’s game is scheduled to begin at 7:00 p.m. ET and can be seen on ESPN. </p>
https://www.batterypower.com/2022/7/6/23197172/cardinals-vs-braves-lineups-game-threadKris Willis2022-07-06T16:00:00-04:002022-07-06T16:00:00-04:00What to watch for in Wednesday night’s Cardinals-Braves game
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<figcaption>Photo by Todd Kirkland/Getty Images</figcaption>
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<p>Weakly-hit fly balls; Fried’s big split</p> <p id="wUqaQw">The Braves used early offensive outbursts to fell the Cardinals on consecutive nights. They go for the series win tonight in a battle of staff aces: Miles Mikolas faces off against the incomparable Max Fried. Here are some curiosities to be aware of.</p>
<p id="Pvxnab"><strong>Mikolas, weakly-hit flies, and the Braves</strong></p>
<p id="sREume">Miles Mikolas has 1.8 fWAR and 3.1 RA9-WAR on the season. He isn’t a big strikeout guy, and leaving all the strand rate and BABIP shenanigans aside, his success this year (1.8 fWAR is top 30 in MLB right now among starters) is due to a combination of not walking anyone and limiting hard contact in the air.</p>
<p id="IephLx">Right now, Mikolas is essentially in the top 10 among all pitchers with 100-plus batted ball events in lowest exit velocity allowed on fly balls. To be honest, I’m not sure that’s really a pitcher “skill” — it’s likely driven by the types of batters he’s faced as much as anything he’s doing himself — but it’s a big reason his numbers are where they are. The Braves, though, don’t align neatly to this gameplan-slash-thing-that-has-happened-to-Mikolas so far. They hit fly balls very hard (third-highest average exit velocity in MLB), and their overall exit velocity tends to be dragged down by mishit grounders, which they don’t hit very hard at all, in aggregate.</p>
<p id="Qg3S4e">Statcast has both a generic “FB%” category, as well as a category of balls hit “under,” i.e., poorly-hit flies that are unlikely to be a hit. (FB% captures the rate of all fly balls, not just well- or poorly-hit ones.) If you take FB% and subtract under% from it, you get a pretty good proxy for how much damage teams are doing on contact (it correlates with xwOBACON quite well), and the Braves are first among all teams in this measure. Basically: among all teams, they have the highest proportion of well-hit fly balls, or alternatively, the lowest proportion of do-nothing routine fly balls.</p>
<p id="BhTUuG">So, what’s going to give in this game? Are the Braves going to play in Mikolas’ hands and hit the fly balls he’s far from loath to allow, just not very well? Or is Mikolas going to run into a buzzsaw with “we crush balls we hit in the air” emblazoned on the side?</p>
<p id="7nFDIF"><strong>Max Fried’s big lefty-tormenting split</strong></p>
<p id="Ktdl9Y">Max Fried keeps changing it up on us, but rarely in any way that’s consequentially worse. One thing I’ve noticed is that he has a fairly big platoon split this year.</p>
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<p id="7I7aY9">While it’s not weird for an exaggerated split in a half-season, given how finicky splits tend to be with all but robust sample sizes, it’s still pretty interesting. </p>
<p id="r1LZfw">Fried was really good with a sizable split in 2019, went the contact management approach in 2020, which seems to have narrowed if not reversed it (but small sample warnings are blaring!), went back to traditional strikeouts-and-walks in 2021 without much of a split at all, and now has a giant split in what’s shaping up to be his best season yet. It’ll be interesting to see what the Cardinals or do or don’t do in response — whether they start some combination of Albert Pujols and Edmundo Sosa, both of whom have been awful this year, or not. The Cardinals may need to rely on a combination of Paul Goldschmidt, Nolan Arenado, Tommy Edman, and Brendan Donovan tonight, as basically no one else on their roster has done anything against lefties.</p>
https://www.batterypower.com/2022/7/6/23196680/what-to-watch-for-in-wednesday-nights-cardinals-braves-game-fly-balls-max-friedIvan the Great2022-07-06T14:00:00-04:002022-07-06T14:00:00-04:00Max Fried, Braves look to clinch series win against Cardinals
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<figcaption>Photo by Todd Kirkland/Getty Images</figcaption>
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<p>Atlanta will try to keep the pressure on the Mets as they go for a series win against the Cardinals Wednesday. </p> <p id="4OBt2N">The <a href="https://www.talkingchop.com/">Atlanta Braves</a> will try to make it three straight wins, and clinch a series victory in the process, Wednesday night when they continue a four-game series against the <a href="https://www.vivaelbirdos.com/">St. Louis Cardinals</a>. Atlanta took Monday’s opener 6-3 and then captured a 7-1 win Tuesday as Austin Riley came a triple shy of a cycle. With the win, Atlanta climbed to a season-high 14 games over .500 and closed the gap in the NL East to just 2.5 games behind the <a href="https://www.amazinavenue.com/">New York Mets</a>. </p>
<p id="6N2zRN">Max Fried will make his 17th start of the season in Wednesday’s game and will be looking to continue an All-Star worthy season. Fried got July off on a good note in his last start where he held the Reds to five hits and one run over seven innings. Fried has allowed three runs or less in 13 of his 16 starts this season. Fried has been lights out against St. Louis in his career allowing just one earned run over 20 2/3 innings. </p>
<p id="lWq6is">The Cardinals will counter with right-hander Miles Mikolas who has also put together an All-Star worthy campaign in 2022. After injuries derailed his 2021 season, Mikolas has been excellent posting a 2.61 ERA and a 3.49 FIP in 100 innings for the Cardinals. Mikolas allowed four runs (two earned) in 5 1/3 innings in his last start against the <a href="https://www.thegoodphight.com/">Phillies</a>. </p>
<p id="Hy1JKr">William Contreras hit a first inning home run Tuesday as part of a five-run outburst by the Braves. That gave Atlanta seven players with at least 10 home runs on the season. It is the first time since the franchise moved to Atlanta that they have had seven players with at least 10 home runs before the All-Star Break. The franchise record for players with 10+ home runs is nine which has happened three times and most recently in 2019. </p>
<p id="pG7BAR">Wednesday’s game is scheduled to get underway at 7:20 p.m. ET and can be seen nationally on ESPN. </p>
<h3 id="dVNtR1"><strong>Game Info</strong></h3>
<p id="l4DgQX"><strong>Game Date/Time:</strong> Wednesday, July 6, 7:20 p.m. ET</p>
<p id="KQcjB1"><strong>Location:</strong> Truist Park, Atlanta, Georgia</p>
<p id="V6i6h9"><strong>TV:</strong> ESPN</p>
<p id="YR2c8w"><strong>Radio:</strong> 680 AM / 93.7 FM The Fan</p>
https://www.batterypower.com/2022/7/6/23196528/cardinals-vs-braves-preview-time-tv-streaming-radio-max-fried-miles-mikolasKris Willis