It hasn’t been easy for the Braves — that’s the opposite of how I’d describe any part of this season (except the losing, I guess!) — but it was certainly easy on Wednesday afternoon, as the Braves rode a complete game effort from Spencer Schwellenbach and a couple of two-run homers to a 6-2 victory that delivered unto them their first series win in forever nearly a month.
The Braves looked like they might fall behind early (again), as Jackson Chourio hit a one-out wounded duck triple just inside the right-field foul line. However, William Contreras hit a weak bouncer that allowed Austin Riley to throw Chourio out at home.
Marcell Ozuna drew a leadoff walk against Chad Patrick in the second, and the Braves actually capitalized, as Michael Harris II got a 1-1 cutter right down the middle and obliterated it into right field for a two-run shot. The Braves weren’t done there, either, as Patrick lost his command and walked Nick Allen with two outs. Two singles later, the Braves were up 3-0.
The Brewers got one of those runs back on a Rhys Hoskins, scoop-there-it-is-esque homer off Schwellenbach to start the third, but it was one of the few blemishes against the Braves’ budding ace on the day. Schwellenbach retired the next 13 Brewers after the homer, and then erased the next guy to reach on a double play ball off Chourio’s bat. He then went 1-2-3 in the seventh, before backup catcher Eric Haase drove in a leadoff single with a double in the eighth.
By that point, though, the Braves had opened up a sizable lead, so the second Milwaukee run didn’t really matter. After Allen singled with one out in the fourth, it was Ronald Acuña Jr.’s turn to get in on the homer fun, and he blasted a monster shot, crushing a first-pitch cutter 416 feet into left-center. The Braves later tacked on their sixth and final run against Easton McGee in the seventh, going walk-single-double play-bloop single from Ozzie Albies.
Not that they needed the extra runs, though they were nice to see, because Schwellenbach was just rolling. He finished the game out with a 1-2-3 ninth, putting together a 9/0 K/BB ratio while needing just 105 pitches to get the requisite 27 outs. A lot of times, a high strikeout tally can make it hard to be efficient, but of his nine strikeouts, three were three-pitch affairs, and another three took only four pitches. Nor did Schwellenbach have to rely on good defense behind him, as the Brewers managed just four hard-hit outs, and only one additional ball with a hit probability above 50 percent that happened to be hit towards a fielder. Instead, he pretty much cruised from the beginning, and the Braves made it stand up with some bombs. That’s probably more akin to how the season was supposed to go, and I guess they still have a chance to get their train back on the tracks for a playoff berth, but it’s going to be a real heavy lift from here.
