Ozzie Saves
Ozhaino Jurdy Jiandro Albies had a grand total of ONE hit in the week’s-finale series in Milwaukee. One. The good news about that one hit is that it lifted Atlanta to their first series win since before the All-Star festivities.
Down 2-1 with one out in the bottom of the 8th, Ozzie took the first pitch he saw from Elvis Peguero and hit it where it was pitched. The 0-0 low & away fastball was driven over the left-center wall for a 3-run bomb that would prove to be the difference in the 4-2 Atlanta victory.
His 23rd roundtripper of the season raised Atlanta’s win probability from 33.8% to 85.9%, an increase of 52.1%. A top-10 Win Probability Added play of the 2023 season, excluding 9th inning plays. Translation: it was one of the top 10 momentum shifts, in terms of win probability added, in baseball so far this season; except plays/at-bats that have occurred in the 9th inning or later.
So even though Ozzie had been hitless in Milwaukee up until his final at-bat, he made a 2023 top-10 contribution with one swing.
Big time players make big time plays in big time spots.
Atlanta will carry this newfound momentum to New England next when they play a mini-series against the Red Sox in a two-game mid-week series.
Boston hasn’t announced their starter for Game One on Tuesday, but Charlie Morton (10-7) will take the mound for the favorites from Atlanta. Game Two will be Spencer Strider (11-3) against Brayan Bello (7-6).
The Braves will see old friends Kenley Jansen & Adam Duvall. Against Morton, Duvall is batting .273 with 1 homerun, 5 RBI in 11 at-bats. Against Strider, the only starter for Boston with any at-bats at all is Justin Turner, who is 0-3 in his career against the young stud.
The batter of note for the Braves for the Boston series is Marcell Ozuna, who is having a substantial resurgence in 2023 compared to his 2022. I think we all remember his monster night at Fenway in 2020 when he hit three bombs in front of a stadium full of open air & cardboard cutouts.
Baseball is an unpredictable sport by nature, but Atlanta SHOULD go 2-0 against the BoSox this week & keep it moving back to Atlanta where they’ll meet Milwaukee in short notice.