Ynoa leads Braves' win with 1st MLB hits

ATLANTA -- Though Ronald Acuña Jr. has been highly entertaining during this season’s first few weeks, the Braves’ bid to once again be among the National League’s elite will be significantly influenced by how productive the less-imposing bottom half of their lineup proves to be.

While Austin Riley and Dansby Swanson showed some offensive life in a 5-4 win over the D-backs at Truist Park on Friday night, starting pitcher Huascar Ynoa made some unexpected contributions to the bottom of the order and dazzled once again with his fastball-slider mix. Ynoa experienced the thrill of recording his first two career hits on the same day he notched his first career win.

“A couple people were like, is he going to be in the lineup tomorrow?” Riley said.

Ultimately, the Braves claimed their fifth win in their past seven games courtesy of the seventh-inning solo homer Ozzie Albies hit off Yoan Lopez. Albies’ third homer of the season allowed him to join Swanson and Riley on a night when the bottom of the lineup finally carried the load.

Albies entered the series opener with a .588 OPS, which wasn’t quite as ugly as the .550 OPS Swanson carried into the game. Riley’s OPS now stands at .746 after it rose from a morbid .456 to .683 after he homered and reached safely in all four plate appearances on Wednesday at Yankee Stadium.

“Early on, I was joking that we should change our name to the Atlanta Acuñas,” Swanson said. “If it weren’t for him the first couple weeks, we seriously could have been 2-11. And that’s not a joke.”

If Acuña or Freeddie Freeman didn’t do anything the first few weeks, the Braves’ offense was quite silent. But this latest victory came on a night when Acuña went hitless while playing for the first time since suffering a mild abdominal strain on Sunday.

Here are three key takeaways:

Shohei, who?

Ok, Ynoa didn’t belt any long homers like Angels two-way star Shohei Ohtani. But Ynoa touched 99.1 mph with his fastball and produced a 110.3 mph exit velocity with the RBI single he logged in the fourth. That stands as the hardest recorded hit by a Braves pitcher since Statcast was introduced in 2015, and it was the third-highest exit velocity registered in Friday’s game.

Ynoa’s third-inning leadoff double against Luke Weaver came off the bat at a more mortal 102.2 mph. The single he recorded an inning later followed the D-backs’ decision to intentionally walk light-hitting backup catcher Alex Jackson, who has three hits in 33 career at-bats.

“I enjoy hitting, because I like the idea that I can help myself in the sense of if I can get a hit, or if I can drive in some runs, I'm really only helping my case and the team's case as well,” Ynoa said through an interpreter.

Carson Kelly’s two-run homer in the fifth accounted for the only two runs Ynoa yielded over six innings. His effort distanced him from the frustration felt last weekend, when he allowed six runs and three homers over just four innings at Wrigley Field. He hadn’t permitted more than one run while completing at least five innings in his only two prior starts this year.

Along with the electric fastball, Ynoa features a slider that has frustrated plenty of hitters. The D-backs whiffed on eight of the 19 sliders thrown by the right-hander.

“He’s growing up and getting confidence,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “It’s fun to watch guys when they start to figure things out.”

Power surge

Riley went 62 plate appearances without an extra-base hit before sneaking a homer over Yankee Stadium’s short right-field porch on Wednesday night. The Braves’ third baseman then went deep in his first plate appearance of this series. He went below his knees to line a Weaver changeup over the center-field wall for a two-run homer in the second.

When Riley hit 14 homers through the first 42 games of his career in 2019, he feasted on fastballs and then became too susceptible to sliders outside the zone. He has become more disciplined toward the breaking balls and he has reduced his strikeout rate. Along the way, he’s more consistently stayed back against offspeed pitches.

“That was a big hit for him tonight,” Snitker said. “I mean, think those are little things like that, that the positives you look for that can get a guy going.”

Trying too hard

Swanson ended the last homestand with a walk-off single against the Marlins. But he went 2-for-18 on the road trip and struck out in his first two plate appearances on Friday. So, it was easy to understand the excitement he showed when he slid safely into third base with a two-out, RBI triple in the fifth.

If Swanson and Riley can consistently contribute, the Braves may once again have the quality lineup depth that allowed them to be one of the game’s most explosive teams the past two seasons.

“Sometimes, when you try so hard, you actually hurt yourself more,” Swanson said. “I feel like that's happened just a little bit because everyone wants to do so well, right? Sometimes, you just got to get back in your own little mojo, take a deep breath and relax a little bit.”