ATLANTA -- Instead of talking about his velocity decrease or how his rough outing could have led the Braves to just their fifth 1-9 record in franchise history, Chris Sale could smile and talk about how Sean Murphy's bespectacled return keyed an energizing 7-5 comeback win over the Phillies on Tuesday night at Truist Park.
¡°Winning fixes everything really,¡± Sale said. ¡°We know how we started the season. It¡¯s been not great, right? This game was about a lot of things we did right, which is fun.¡±
Murphy hit a three-run homer in his first plate appearance of the season and damaged Zack Wheeler again with a RBI single in a game-tying, two-run sixth. Austin Riley halted his struggles with a go-ahead RBI double in the seventh and Jarred Kelenic reached safely in each of his four plate appearances before making a diving catch in the ninth.
Even veteran shortstop Orlando Arcia, who recently lost playing time to Nick Allen, got into the act with an eight-pitch walk ahead of Michael Harris¡¯ game-tying sacrifice fly. And a still-suspect bullpen held the Phillies hitless and scoreless over the final 4 1/3 innings.
So, yeah that was fun, especially for a manager who has seen plenty go wrong during the season¡¯s first couple weeks.
¡°We did need that,¡± Braves manager Brian Snitker said. ¡°That¡¯s an understatement. It was good to play a game like that.¡±
Here were the game¡¯s top developments:
Murphy¡¯s back
Top prospect Drake Baldwin has been the new shiny toy who drew plenty of attention as he spent the season¡¯s first nine games as Atlanta¡¯s primary catcher. But it didn¡¯t take Murphy long to prove he intends to get back to where he was from 2021-23, when he and the Phillies¡¯ J.T. Realmuto led all MLB catchers with a 13.4 fWAR.
When Murphy hit .193 with a .636 OPS last year, the assumption was he never got back on track after missing two months with a strained oblique suffered on Opening Day. But maybe his vision played a part.
An astigmatism was detected during a recent vision check. He didn¡¯t like contacts, so he switched to the sports glasses he was wearing when his first swing of the year resulted in him taking Wheeler¡¯s 1-0 sweeper over the left-field wall. This was Murphy¡¯s first plate appearance in a big league setting since Feb. 28, when his left rib was cracked in a Grapefruit League game against the Marlins.
Murphy homered in his first rehab game with Triple-A Gwinnett both of the past two years. So, now that he homered in this season debut?
¡°Everybody talk to me tomorrow like it¡¯s my first game,¡± Murphy said with a smirk. ¡°We¡¯re going to try to do that again.¡±
Relief for Riley
Riley got a gift when his routine fly ball fell between first-time outfielder Edmundo Sosa and center fielder Johan Rojas in the second inning. Had the ball been caught, Wheeler would have escaped the three-run frame unscathed.
But maybe that was the luck Riley needed after entering the day 5-for-35 with two extra-base hits and 14 strikeouts. He added two more to that K total on Tuesday. But he also got a confidence boost when he scored Marcell Ozuna from second with one out in the seventh. The opposite-field double gave the Braves a lead they didn¡¯t relinquish.
¡°You hope something like that relaxes him a little bit,¡± Snitker said. ¡°He hit that right where he lives. That¡¯s kind of his power alley there. When he¡¯s going good, that¡¯s where he hits the ball.¡±
Sale¡¯s velo
Sale surrendered nine hits and five runs over just 4 2/3 innings. Most of the damage was done by Kyle Schwarber, who singled in the first, tripled in the third and hit a Statcast-projected 462-foot homer in the fifth. The solo shot was the longest home run ever surrendered by the 2024 National League Cy Young Award winner.
Sale¡¯s four-seam fastball accounted for just seven of the 23 pitches he threw after the third inning. His heater touched 97.3 mph in the first inning, but didn¡¯t get above 93.4 mph the rest of the night. The four-seamer averaged 92.7 mph. This same pitch averaged 94.9 mph in 2024.
The good news is it seems to be a mechanical issue. His arm angle dropped from 11 degrees in 2024 to seven degrees in his first two starts of the season.
¡°It just hasn¡¯t clicked yet,¡± Sale said. ¡°It¡¯s frustrating obviously. We won this game, but I still know I¡¯m going to be staring at the ceiling until about three in the morning. I¡¯ve got some days to figure it out."