MIAMI — The Atlanta Braves welcomed back energizer second baseman Ozzie Albies on Friday, two months after he broke his wrist. Third baseman Austin Riley will have a CT scan on Monday to determine if the cast can come off his right hand and open the door to a possible return for the postseason.
But that’s only if there is a postseason for the Braves.
The question now is whether it’s too little, too late for Atlanta. The team will see its run of six consecutive NL East titles end as soon as Saturday when the Philadelphia Phillies could clinch the division with another win against the New York Mets.
Meanwhile, the Braves, who lost 4-3 to the Miami Marlins in a series opener they really needed to win Friday night, also could see their string of postseason appearances stopped at six if they don’t win most of their remaining eight games and hope that the Mets and/or Arizona Diamondbacks lose most of theirs.
Because that’s basically what must happen for the Braves to clinch one of the final two NL wild-card berths. And they are well aware of their situation, including the fact that the surging Mets — winners of 16 of their previous 20 — lost to the Phillies on Friday.
Albies grounds out to end it, #Braves lose 4-3 in series opener at Miami and will remain 2 games behind the Mets for the final wild-card spot.
— David O’Brien (@DOBrienATL) September 21, 2024
“What have we got, eight games left?” Braves manager Brian Snitker said when asked if he and his guys are scoreboard watching. “Damn straight we are. Mets are getting beat (Friday), that’s a good thing. We didn’t win, but we didn’t lose ground either.”
Snitker added this sober reality: “We control our own destiny. We need to win the rest of them. We’re down to eight, so we just need to take care of business tomorrow.”
Hours before, it seemed things had taken a decidedly positive turn for the Braves, who routed the Cincinnati Reds in the last two games of a road series before arriving in Miami to the awaiting Albies.
But that was before the Marlins scored three runs in the first inning against Charlie Morton.
“I feel great, happy that I can be back with the team and do whatever’s in my power to help the team get W’s — that’s the goal,” Albies said before going 0-for-5 Friday.
His return came one day shy of two months since fracturing his left wrist on a tag play in a July 21 game. With the wrist causing discomfort in his left-handed swing, the switch-hitting Albies will bat exclusively right-handed for now. That didn’t go well Friday, when he popped out twice, lined out once, grounded into a double play, and grounded out again for the final out of the game.
“It’s different,” Snitker said, when asked if Albies might’ve too amped in his first game back, after playing two minor-league rehab games. “It’s different in this atmosphere than just having two (rehab) games. But we know what he can do, and it’s still good to see him in that lineup.”
“Obviously he didn’t get that hit that we were looking for tonight,” shortstop Orlando Arcia said through a translator, “but I’m happy that he’s back with the team.”
The Braves had just three official at-bats with runners in scoring position and did nothing with them. The first was by Arcia, who struck out with runners on the corners to end the second inning and continue his season-long misery in RISP situations (his .162 average in 127 plate appearances in those spots is the lowest among MLB qualifiers.)
The Braves loaded the bases with one out in the third and got only a Jorge Soler sacrifice fly out of it. Michael Harris II had leadoff singles in the first, third and seventh innings, and Albies made an out on the first pitch after the first two of those and grounded into a double play after the last of them.
“We had the deck stacked in our favor a couple of times and we just couldn’t get the big hit again,” Snitker said.
Albies played two Triple-A rehab games Tuesday and Wednesday and went 4-for-8 with a three-run homer and a walk, the homer coming against a lefty and two of the singles against right-handers. The most difficult pitch he faced batting right-handed against righties with Triple-A Gwinnett?
“It was the 97 sinker in, right-on-right,” said Albies, who grounded out on an inside-edge 96.2 mph sinker from Marlins prospect Adam Mazur on Wednesday at Jacksonville, and singled on a 95.5 mph fastball. “I’ve obviously never seen it like that (batting right-handed) before. That was the only thing that I was a little concerned about, and I saw it a couple of times and felt good after that.”
Braves teammates and coaches couldn’t contain their smiles upon seeing Albies in the visitor’s clubhouse at LoanDepot Park.
“Yeah, for sure,” Braves first baseman Matt Olson said. “Whit (Merrifield, who filled in for Albies) has done an awesome job, but Ozzie’s just a good guy to have around all the time. Obviously we know the player that he is.”
Albies got a day off Thursday to travel to Miami ahead of the Braves. He checked into the team hotel and streamed the Braves’ game, seeing them hit six homers in a series finale at Cincinnati, including an MLB modern-era record four three-run homers.
“Phenomenal,” Albies said. “I know the ball flies there, but for us to do that — it brings positive vibes, positive ABs, positive energy for the team, to keep that going.”
There’s an axiom in baseball that momentum is the next day’s starting pitcher. Any momentum the Braves had after outscoring the Reds 22-4 in the final two games was pretty much gone after the Marlins scored three in the first off Morton. on a broken-bat single, a walk, a ground-rule double that sailed over the defensively challenged Soler in right field, and another single and sacrifice fly.
“The story of that game was the first inning,” said Morton, who lasted six innings and gave up seven hits and four runs. “The three runs just killed the momentum.”
Trailing 3-0, the Braves chipped away with a run in the third on a Soler sacrifice fly Arcia’s two-out solo homer in the fourth. After the Marlins got a run in the fifth on a walk, a stolen base and a Morton wild pitch, the Braves cut the lead to one run again in the sixth on Ramon Laureano’s homer.
If the Braves are to get on a run, this would be the time to do it, after facing the lowly Reds and the lowlier Marlins, before finishing the season at home with a critical three-game series against the Mets that starts Tuesday and a three-game series against the Kansas City Royals.
The Braves and Mets have split 10 games, so next week’s series will effectively serve as the tiebreaker between the teams if they were to finish the regular season with the same record.
It’s probably not realistic to think Riley, even if he has the cast removed after Monday’s exam, could play without at least two or three weeks of re-strengthening the hand and facing some live pitching. Riley had the base of the hamate bone in his hand broken when struck by a fastball at Anaheim on Aug. 18.
If the Braves were to make the postseason and advance past the first round, perhaps they could have Riley back in the lineup, which they hope would be humming along by then with Albies having time to regain his groove (and perhaps his left-handed swing).
Snitker was asked what it would mean to get Riley back at some point, after getting Albies back Friday.
“Oh, my God,” Snitker said. “You get both of those guys back, we’re closer to being whole. But Ozzie, with his speed and what he can do offensively, can do nothing but energize the lineup. It’s just good to get a kid like that. You miss Ozzie when he’s away because he brings so much heart and soul to our game. It’s hard to replace that.
“You play the game the way Ozzie does, you’re going to play the game right. And having him in there is a spark for a club.”
(Photo of Ozzie Albies: Megan Briggs / Getty Images)
