ATLANTA — This Braves lineup is special.
The Braves on Sunday blew out the Rockies, 14-6, to earn the four-game sweep at Truist Park. Atlanta, which finished with 18 hits, has won six games in a row and 13 of its last 15.
Five observations:
1. The Rockies jumped on Charlie Morton early and built a five-run lead. Orlando Arcia’s error contributed. It looked as if this might be one of those sleepy Sundays in which the team that had already lost the series found a way to win one game.
Nope.
“Down or up, we are going to keep playing hard until the game is over,” Ozzie Albies said. “That’s what we do.”
The Rockies scored those five runs in the first two innings. The Braves still had a lot of baseball to play.
They erased the deficit, and then built a lead, by scoring 12 unanswered runs. They scored in seven straight innings for the first time this season. Once again, their red-hot offense asserted its dominance.
“It’s crazy,” Michael Harris II said. “We were down five to zero and we played the game like we were (in a) tie game the whole time, just going and scoring runs. It didn’t really affect us. We just went out there and played our game, and we ended up winning in the end.”
The Braves outscored the Rockies by a combined 28 runs over these four wins.
2. Eight Braves collected a hit. Harris had five of them – a career high. Eddie Rosario homered twice, and had a career-high six RBIs.
And all of this continued a trend: In June, the Braves’ offense has been unbelievable, especially in these four games versus the Rockies.
“It’s kind of crazy,” manager Brian Snitker said. “It felt like we played four Coors Field games, quite honestly.”
The Braves have scored at least six runs in each of their last six games, their longest such streak this season. Atlanta hadn’t experienced a run like this since 2020, when they did it in six straight games.
Entering Sunday, the Braves’ .896 OPS in the month of June led the majors. They also ranked first in batting average (.305), home runs (30) and runs per game (6.60).
Good offensive days can be contagious, one rolling to the next.
“It just goes the other way, too, when guys try and to do too much,” Snitker said. “And now, nobody feels pressure. They just kind of keep that line movement. And it’s good at-bats, too. That’s the thing. Guys aren’t striking out. They’re walking. It’s getting good (swing) decisions. In this game, you never take anything for granted, so we’ll come out and try and win another series starting Tuesday.”
3. The Braves trailed by a run in the fourth inning. They were once again threatening versus Rockies starter Chase Anderson.
Then they landed a massive blow: Ozzie Albies, who hit second in the order in this series, launched a three-run shot that gave Atlanta its first lead of the game.
Facing Anderson, a righty, the switch-hitting Albies hit this bomb from the left side, where he’s looked much better recently. Albies entered the game with a .684 OPS from the left side – but that included an .820 OPS since May 15 as a left-handed hitter. And in that short span, Albies has seven homers from that left side.
Albies has always hit better from the right side, so his performance as a left-handed hitter has been encouraging.
4. In the bottom of the fifth inning, Harris launched a 453-foot, three-run homer.
Here’s the wild part: After that blast, the Braves have hit 16 home runs of at least 450 feet this season. That’s the most in the majors … by 10. And Ronald Acuña Jr. has six of them.
The record for most home runs of at least 450 feet in a season is 19, done multiple times by the Rockies. But they play at Coors Field, where the ball flies.
Harris’ homer tied the 2017 Yankees and 2017 Marlins for the non-Colorado teams record for most homers of at least 450 feet.
“I guess we’re just seeing the ball good and hitting it (on) the right part of the bat,” Harris said. “We’re not getting too many wall-scrapers, but those count, too. All they gotta do is go over the yellow line. I guess if you hit it 460, it’s still the same as hitting it over the yellow line, but I guess you get some cool points for hitting it a little further.”
5. Atlanta is 13-3 this month, the majors’ best June record. Since 2018, Atlanta’s 81-43 record in the month of June is the best mark in baseball.
Stat to know
56 - The Braves have scored 56 runs over this six-game winning streak, their first time scoring this much in six games since 2020.
Quotable
“I don’t know how I got it done. I mean, I just tried to put the bat on the ball and it found holes, finally. I guess the baseball gods are on my side right now. Glad to do it in front of my dad on Father’s Day.”- Harris on his five-hit game
Up next
After Monday’s off day, the Braves will begin a three-game series in Philadelphia on Tuesday. Spencer Strider will face Ranger Suárez in the series opener, which begins at 6:40 p.m.
