Never underestimate the heart of a champion. For the second straight game, the Atlanta Braves found themselves down by more than five runs against the Arizona Diamondbacks. And for the second straight game, Atlanta found a way to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. This time, the Braves clawed back from a 6-0 deficit to get the win. Unlike their home opener, they didn't need to go to extra innings.
The Braves engineered their comeback behind three men in particular: DH Marcell Ozuna, 3B Austin Riley, and left fielder Jarred Kelenic. After the game, both Ozuna and Riley talked about this “fun” game for the team, per Mark Bowman. It was a bit of a heart-clencher, but it was nonetheless fun to see the Atlanta hitting crew get their mojo back.
“Everyone knows what we can do in baseball,” Ozuna said. “We’re always together. We trust each other and we have fun. So there’s no doubt we can do the mission on the field.”
“This team doesn’t quit,” Riley said. “It was great to do this in front of our fans. They’re awesome and they keep us in it. They were on every pitch. Those were two pretty fun games the last two nights.”
The Braves found themselves down by six runs after a dreadful start from Max Fried. Fried struggled mightily, allowing 10 hits (seven of which came in the first inning) and eight runs. It's been a common trend as of late, unfortunately. Thankfully, Atlanta has the firepower to power through. Behind the bullpen's incredible stand and the hitting staff finding their stride, the team managed to steal the win.
Braves' confident stance: “Never sensed panic”
One might think that the Braves started to falter after falling down by multiple runs yet again. A day after Spencer Strider's dreadful start, Fried struggled to get outs for the team. Having to orchestrate another massive comeback must be taxing, right?
Well, think again. Kelenic's comments after the game seemed to show that the Braves had full faith in themselves to be able to climb out of the hole. That's the attitude you like to see out of the team, and Kelenic is already getting some of that confidence.
“I’ll be honest with you, throughout the whole game, even when we were down, 6-0, I never sensed panic,” Braves left fielder Jarred Kelenic said. “I was pretty confident. We knew that if we just kept doing what we’ve been doing since we got here, the rest would take care of itself.”
Kelenic and Ozuna have surprisingly been two of the most consistent hitters for the Braves this season. Ozuna picked up from his incredible 2023 season, going 10-for-31 with multiple homers and extra base hits. He's brought power to a team loaded with cannons. As for Kelenic, the former Seattle Mariners prospect is 10-for-16 to start his career with his new team.
The crazy thing is that both Kelenic and Ozuna sit either at the bottom or the middle of their batting order. Their top four in reigning MVP Ronald Acuna Jr, Ozzie Albies, Riley, and Matt Olson are just starting to get warmed up. With their rotation in flux due to injuries and sub-optimal play, the Braves' feared batting order will need to pick up the load for this team.
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