If last Wednesday’s contest was a night to forget for Bryce Elder, then tonight’s rematch against the Miami Marlins was one for the memory banks. Elder hit seven strong shutout innings for the Atlanta Braves in what ended up being a pretty comfortable win in the series opener in Miami.
Bryce Elder came into this game probably trying to break the record against the Marlins and boy did he ever do that. Elder started the game with a 1-2-3 inning against the front of Miami’s order, and things basically ran smoothly for Elder from that point on. No one made it past second base against Elder in this instance — the only time a runner ever made it To Second base is when Jon Berti got there because he first made an error and then got a free base thanks to a block from Elder.
Other than that, Bryce Elder was fantastic in this film. If anything, he showed that starting in Cobb County against the Marlins might have been an aberration, and this was more of the usual we’ve come to expect from Elder. The Marlins had their fair share of hard contact, but when it came to Elder, the contact was once again wasted as he was able to keep Miami in the ballpark with little to no problem.
The only time Miami really did any serious damage was at the end of the seventh inning when Bryan De La Cruz smoked one off the wall in midfield in what looked like a two-out double. Instead, Michael Harris II played the ball perfectly off the wall and then fired a laser at Ozzie Albies at second base. Ozzie kept the tag on as De La Cruz slipped out of the bag and got a single instead of a double while he was kicked out in second. It was an amazing track and it ended Elder’s night on a high note.
Offensively, the first inning was also a portent for the rest of the game as Sandy Alcantara had to work really hard to get through the first inning scoreless. He gave up just one hit (a leadoff double by Ronald Acuña Jr.), but he still needed plenty of pitches to get out of the first frame. However, Atlanta made him pay in the second inning when Ozzie Albies hit a deep to right field for a solo shot to start the Braves in that game.
The Braves couldn’t get through in the second inning but kept pushing Sandy Alcantara’s pitch count up early in the game. This continued into the third inning when the Braves charged the bases with nobody to lead that frame. Unfortunately, Eddie Rosario and Ozzie Albies both swung on the first pitches they saw, allowing Alcantara to escape the jam by giving up just one run in that frame, but it was still clear that the Braves Alcantara in that one caused a lot of problems.
Atlanta got things going again against Sandy Alcantara in the fifth inning when Matt Olson got to base with a one-out walk and then got second by a passed ball with two outs. Eddie Rosario came through with an RBI slam for the 3-0 Braves and the hit came on Alcantara’s 94th finish of the game. Alcantara failed to make it past fifth place and this continued a series of disappointing starts for the reigning NL Cy Young Award winner. Two of those starts have come against the Braves, which we certainly like to see here.
Both teams stayed calm through the eighth inning (save for Ronald Acuña Jr. somersaulting second base in the seventh inning), when Marlins reliever Johan Quezada made his first major league appearance since 2020. Things weren’t going well for him at all, as he gave up a double, a sacrifice fly and five (5!) walks in just .2 innings of work. Two of those walks came with loaded bases, giving the Braves a 6-0 lead by that point once the smoke cleared and the damage was done.
Kirby Yates threw a scoreless eighth inning and then Joe Jiménez came on for the ninth inning. While Jiménez gave up a brace that wedged itself in the chain link fence in left field, he still kept the Marlins off the scoreboard and retained Atlanta’s second shutout win over the Marlins this season.
This was a great comeback for Bryce Elder, who continues to edge Baseball Savant by succeeding despite all the signs pointing to failure. Let’s hope it continues, and let’s hope the Braves can pick up another win series tomorrow night with a win.
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