OAKLAND — It’s been a whirlwind two weeks for the Braves, who capped a 13-game streak without a day off on Wednesday. A trip out West didn’t help matters, as Atlanta’s “Sunday Night Baseball” win over Philadelphia led directly to a late-night trip to the Bay Area that didn’t land until the wee hours of Monday morning.
“I don’t make excuses, but this probably hit us a little bit, with what we went through Sunday night on this series,” said manager Brian Snicker.
After losing their first two games in Oakland, Atlanta avoided being swept away for the third time this season, saving the final series with a 4-2 victory on Wednesday.
“Things happen,” said Ozzie Alpes. “We always held our heads high and kept playing hard to come through 27 games to win today’s match.”
There was an obvious hangover effect from those taxes on cross-country travel, as the Braves slugged through their first two games at Oakland Coliseum, striking out just three runs against the worst team in stadiums by many measures.
After being held scoreless for 10 frames — dating back to the fourth inning Tuesday night — the Braves broke through with a three-run fifth run Wednesday afternoon.
Through four innings, the Braves Batters could only collect one hit against A’s James Kaprielian – base hit Orlando Arcia with one out in the third. However, the bottom of the order ignited a rally in the fifth: Eddie Rosario singled, then Alpes hit his 11th home run of the year, with a two-run hit to right. It was the first time in the Series that the Braves scored multiple runs in an inning.
Atlanta isn’t done yet, though. Later in the fifth inning, Austin Riley—whose ninth error in the first inning helped the A’s win Tuesday—came to the plate with the bases. Unlike the night before, he came out on the right side of a bases-filled situation when he hit a pitch, capping the rally.
Ronald Acuna Jr. added some insurance in the seventh with a hit from the RBI to drive in Arcia, who reached in all four of his plate games, winning each of his first three trips to the plate.
Acuña went 0-for-7 in the Braves’ first two games in Oakland, but finished the series on a high note with a 2-for-5 pitch. He hasn’t been hit in three consecutive games since August 2022. Acuña also made a passable sack in his seventh, becoming the fourth player in MLB history with Over 130 home runs and over 130 stolen bases before he was 26 years old.
As the strikes began to fall for the Braves, rookie Jared Shuster finally got the boost he needed to record his second major league win. Schuster—Atlanta’s No. 1 prospect in all of MLB pipeline—entered the sixth inning for the third straight game and allowed two runs on three hits, even though he walked four batters.
“It’s very effective,” said Snicker. “He’s more, as the game goes on, pressure on it and everything. It’s really good how he’s only hitting that strike zone. Even though he’s been walking four times…it looks like he’s right back there and getting a lot of early count.”
Schuster said, “There’s nothing quite like being out there. I think the more experience you get, the more comfortable you feel.”
With Wednesday’s win, the Braves pulled off a 15-14 record in May, a choppy month that saw a tough roster of contenders and some of the club’s toughest breakouts, including injuries to Kyle Wright and Max Fried.
But it’s all about maintaining perspective. Just over a third of the way through the season, Atlanta is hitting 10 games over . 500 and finishing first in the National League East. In 2022, the Braves were a season short of four games when the calendar flipped to June.
“It’s a long season,” Albis said. “We always stay positive; that’s what we do. We keep playing hard. We try to win every night. That’s the end of it.”
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