Braves' power renaissance continues despite loss

NEW YORK -- Even as the Braves suffered an 8-3 loss to the Yankees on Saturday night at Yankee Stadium, they continued to create encouragement via the dinger.

Yeah, the Braves surrendered as many home runs (two) as they hit. But this is a power-reliant lineup that will continue to live and die by the tater. They died on a regular basis as they homered once every 34 at-bats while losing 23 of 39 games from April 29-June 12.

But they have shown life while homering once every 17.4 at-bats while winning seven of their past nine games.

“That’s kind of who they are,” Braves starting pitcher Charlie Morton said. “When they are swinging the bats well, they do damage and they do damage early.”

A significant power source was lost on May 26, when Ronald Acuña Jr. suffered a season-ending knee injury. But his absence, combined with the fact that Michael Harris II will likely be on the injured list for another month, just enhances this team’s reliance on the homer.

Marcell Ozuna hit an opposite-field homer off Marcus Stroman in the first inning, and Travis d'Arnaud took advantage of Yankee Stadium’s offense-friendly right-field dimensions when he went the other way with a two-run shot in the seventh.

d’Arnaud’s seventh homer of the season and second in his past three starts wasn’t enough to overcome the damage suffered by Morton, who allowed five runs and five hits over 5 2/3 innings. Morton issued five walks, and Aaron Bummer walked three of the six batters he faced after entering in the sixth with one on and two outs.

“The biggest thing is that we have to pitch,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “It doesn’t matter. Last year, we had all of those homers, but you’ve still got to pitch.”

Actually, the Braves pitched fine in three of the four games they played against the Phillies in last year’s National League Division Series. They just didn’t get much from an offense that matched an MLB record with 307 homers and set an AL/NL record by constructing a .501 slugging percentage in the regular season.

Or maybe, it’s best to just look at this year. As the Braves went 16-23 from April 29-June 12, their pitching staff ranked sixth in the Majors with a 3.52 ERA. Their offense ranked 11th with an 11.3 homer-per-fly-ball rate, despite producing an MLB-best 35.5 percent hard-hit rate during this same span.

The hard-hit rate was just one of the metrics that strengthened the belief that it was just a matter of time before Ozuna got some assistance in the power department. The Braves designated hitter’s two-out solo shot in the first was his 21st home run, behind just the Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani in the National League.

“Our offense is starting to get on track,” Snitker said. “We’ve got a little momentum, and I think we’ll continue to build on that.”

This power surge has coincided with Sean Murphy and Austin Riley shaking off the rust that developed as they both were sidelined for an extended stretch this year. Murphy strained his left oblique on Opening Day, returned to the lineup on May 27 and went 7-for-49 with two extra-base hits before highlighting a four-hit game on Wednesday with two homers.

Riley missed two weeks with a left intercostal strain. The powerful third baseman hit .161 with two extra-base hits (both doubles) in the first 16 games he played after being sidelined from May 13-26. He has hit .500 (13-for-26) with four doubles, four homers and a 1.696 OPS over the eight games that have followed.

“Now, we feel [being down] two or three runs, even four runs, isn’t a big deal because our offense can explode in the blink of an eye,” d’Arnaud said. “Tonight, it just didn’t happen.”