{"id":51474,"date":"2025-04-28T02:27:04","date_gmt":"2025-04-28T02:27:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=51474"},"modified":"2025-04-28T02:27:04","modified_gmt":"2025-04-28T02:27:04","slug":"report-braves-leave-phoenix-with-a-series-win-and-momentum-in-young-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=51474","title":{"rendered":"REPORT: Braves leave Phoenix with a series win and momentum in young season"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n

\"Atlanta<\/h1>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n
Atlanta Braves’ Eli White, right, celebrates his run scored against the Arizona Diamondbacks with Braves’ Austin Riley (27) during the fifth inning of a baseball game Sunday, April 27, 2025, in Phoenix. (AP Photo\/Ross D. Franklin)<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/header>\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\n

PHOENIX \u2013 To this point, the 2025 Braves have for the most part been disappointing, confusing, maddening and unlucky. They have not played to their potential \u2013 not even close.<\/p>\n

And yet, even after Sunday\u2019s loss, they are 12-15. They now have three games in Colorado against the lowly Rockies. Sweep those and they\u2019ll be a .500 team by the time they return to Truist Park to begin the month of May.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

The Braves on Sunday lost to the Diamondbacks, 6-4, at Chase Field. Atlanta missed on a chance to sweep a team projected to contend in the National League this season. Still, the Braves won the series to continue the momentum they\u2019ve built since the beginning of their last homestand.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, it\u2019s good,\u201d Braves manager Brian Snitker said. \u201cIt feels more like things are evening out now, the whole league. I think we\u2019re over the beginning of the year and things are going to start settling in and being what we\u2019re used to here. But I like the way this last week that we\u2019ve had a really good run, we\u2019ve had a great stretch of coming back, we were right there today \u2013 had the go-ahead run at the plate. We\u2019re fighting our way back.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Yes, things could be better.<\/p>\n

But things could also be worse \u2013 much worse.<\/p>\n

The Rockies are 4-23. Yes, you read that correctly: Four wins in 27 tries. They were swept by the Reds at home this weekend. They have the worst record in baseball by multiple games. Now, they prepare to host the Braves, who have spent the last week and a half trying to pull themselves out of the hole they dug over the first two weeks of the season.<\/p>\n

The Braves began 0-7. Sweep the Rockies and they\u2019ll be 15-15 ahead of a three-game series with the Dodgers at Truist Park.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the end of the day, taking two out of three over a really good team \u2013 obviously you\u2019d like to win three, but I like where we\u2019re at going into Colorado,\u201d Austin Riley said.<\/em><\/p>\n

Is there anything more for which Braves fans could\u2019ve asked after the horrific start? No Ronald Acu\u00f1a Jr. No Spencer Strider (save for one start). No Reynaldo L\u00f3pez (save for one start). No Jurickson Profar (save for one series). And still, the Braves aren\u2019t buried early in this season.<\/p>\n

On Sunday, Spencer Schwellenbach once again wasn\u2019t at his best \u2013 though that\u2019s a high bar. He allowed four runs \u2013 three earned \u2013 over six innings. The one unearned run was due to his own throwing error. With the current state of their rotation, the Braves need Schwellenbach in dominant form. He hasn\u2019t been that over his last few starts.<\/p>\n

The offense, though, is alive. The Braves have scored at least six runs in five of their last nine games. They\u2019ve won three straight series and seven of their last nine games. They\u2019re tied with the Marlins for last place in the NL East, but with a ways to go.<\/p>\n

The Phillies, who hadn\u2019t yet played by the time the Braves finished, are 14-13. The Nationals are 13-15. The Mets are 19-9, but the Braves haven\u2019t yet played a game against them. The situation is not as bleak as you may have imagined.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, I think we all expect to play like this every time,\u201d Schwellenbach said. \u201cWe got a really good team and a lot of confidence in each and every one of our guys that when we come out here, each of us are going to take control of what we can control and come out on top.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

The Braves on Sunday had opportunities to win and sweep Arizona. They scored a run off Justin Martinez in the ninth and Ozzie Albies represented the go-ahead run with two outs before he flied out to center field to end the game.<\/p>\n

In the seventh inning, the Braves pulled within a run of the D-backs and had runners on the corners with no outs. But Riley and Marcell Ozuna struck out and, after Matt Olson walked, Albies popped out in foul territory.<\/p>\n

And in the bottom of the seventh, Josh Naylor lined a two-out, two-run double off Aaron Bummer. Michael Harris II and Alex Verdugo converged on it, but it was a tough play and the ball fell.<\/p>\n

Still, the Braves gave themselves a chance to win. This is a positive because it\u2019s happening a lot more now.<\/p>\n

And again: There\u2019s a ton of time to go.<\/p>\n

The positives are aplenty: Verdugo, who had a four-hit game on Sunday, has sparked the lineup. Austin Riley and Matt Olson have provided some pop. Eli White has given the club a surprise injection of offense. Nick Allen continues to have good at-bats, run the bases well and play good defense. Acu\u00f1a is still on the way, with Strider (hamstring strain) perhaps not far behind him.<\/p>\n

When the team is rolling, the positives are contagious.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh yeah, for sure,\u201d Riley said. \u201cHitting is contagious. You try to build on that and I think we\u2019re doing that. Just one of those days where it didn\u2019t go our way, but I think we\u2019re in a good spot going into Colorado.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

One of the reasons why: The lineup is longer with White hitting well and Allen having tough at-bats. And when there aren\u2019t easy outs at the bottom, a pitcher\u2019s job is tougher.<\/p>\n

Take it from Schwellenbach, whose job is to game-plan for lineups.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat makes it extremely tough when you get to the bottom of the order and you think you got some outs there and they end up rolling it to the top of the lineup and you got some guys who can do some serious damage,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s definitely really hard to pitch to a team like that.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

And now, that team goes to Colorado, where it has a juicy opportunity against a bad club.<\/p>\n

All of the sudden, the conversation around the Braves has changed. They\u2019re no longer the underwhelming team not living up to expectations. They\u2019ve shown life and provided promise that their best days aren\u2019t even here yet.<\/p>\n

This is baseball, though.<\/p>\n

It can change in a way.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was brought on ourselves, and we deserved it,\u201d Riley said of the types of questions that were asked as recently as a week ago. \u201cBut we\u2019re in a good spot and we\u2019re starting to continue to build on it. Up and down the lineup, we\u2019re having good ABs and giving ourselves a chance to win. I really like what we\u2019re doing in the late innings and giving ourselves a chance to win ballgames. And that fight, I think that\u2019s encouraging.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n

<\/main><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Atlanta Braves’ Eli White, right, celebrates his run scored against the Arizona Diamondbacks with Braves’ Austin Riley (27) during the fifth inning of a baseball game Sunday,… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":51475,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-51474","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb"],"yoast_head":"\nREPORT: Braves leave Phoenix with a series win and momentum in young season - NEWS USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=51474\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"REPORT: Braves leave Phoenix with a series win and momentum in young season - NEWS USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Atlanta Braves’ Eli White, right, celebrates his run scored against the Arizona Diamondbacks with Braves’ Austin Riley (27) during the fifth inning of a baseball game Sunday,...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=51474\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"NEWS USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-04-28T02:27:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/3344.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"760\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"760\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"MsThao\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"MsThao\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=51474\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=51474\",\"name\":\"REPORT: Braves leave Phoenix with a series win and momentum in young season - NEWS USA\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=51474#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=51474#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/3344.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-04-28T02:27:04+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-04-28T02:27:04+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/73dec88841ffe3be696a72d46df40731\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=51474#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=51474\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=51474#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/3344.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/3344.png\",\"width\":760,\"height\":760},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=51474#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"REPORT: Braves leave Phoenix with a series win and momentum in young season\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/\",\"name\":\"NEWS USA\",\"description\":\"Your Daily Dose of Sports News and Updates\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/73dec88841ffe3be696a72d46df40731\",\"name\":\"MsThao\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/23335ad696d6700b03ba8d09f84a67eadb58cde164fc044a22845ec8be19771f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/23335ad696d6700b03ba8d09f84a67eadb58cde164fc044a22845ec8be19771f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"MsThao\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?author=3\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"REPORT: Braves leave Phoenix with a series win and momentum in young season - NEWS USA","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=51474","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"REPORT: Braves leave Phoenix with a series win and momentum in young season - NEWS USA","og_description":"Atlanta Braves’ Eli White, right, celebrates his run scored against the Arizona Diamondbacks with Braves’ Austin Riley (27) during the fifth inning of a baseball game Sunday,...","og_url":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=51474","og_site_name":"NEWS USA","article_published_time":"2025-04-28T02:27:04+00:00","og_image":[{"width":760,"height":760,"url":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/3344.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"MsThao","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"MsThao","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=51474","url":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=51474","name":"REPORT: Braves leave Phoenix with a series win and momentum in young season - NEWS USA","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=51474#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=51474#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/3344.png","datePublished":"2025-04-28T02:27:04+00:00","dateModified":"2025-04-28T02:27:04+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/73dec88841ffe3be696a72d46df40731"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=51474#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=51474"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=51474#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/3344.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/3344.png","width":760,"height":760},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=51474#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"REPORT: Braves leave Phoenix with a series win and momentum in young season"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/","name":"NEWS USA","description":"Your Daily Dose of Sports News and Updates","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/73dec88841ffe3be696a72d46df40731","name":"MsThao","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/23335ad696d6700b03ba8d09f84a67eadb58cde164fc044a22845ec8be19771f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/23335ad696d6700b03ba8d09f84a67eadb58cde164fc044a22845ec8be19771f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"MsThao"},"url":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?author=3"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51474","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=51474"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51474\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":51476,"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51474\/revisions\/51476"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/51475"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=51474"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=51474"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=51474"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}