This time last week, the Atlanta Braves were searching for answers amid a lackluster road trip.
Entering the series finale of a three-game set against the visiting Colorado Rockies on Sunday afternoon, the vibes have completely shifted.
Atlanta lost five of six games last week before beginning its current six-game winning streak. The Braves extended that run of good fortune on Saturday with a come-from-behind 2-1 victory over Colorado. With the win, the Braves improved to a season-high 26 games over .500 and are tied with the Los Angeles Dodgers for the second-best record in the National League.
Coming off an impressive three-game sweep of the Dodgers, Atlanta manager Walt Weiss stressed the importance of not suffering a letdown against the woeful Rockies.
“It happens all the time in sports, talking about trap games, trap series,” Weiss said. “We see it all the time, it’s human nature. I told our guys, if we want to be good, we’ve got to fight that. I was worried about a letdown, but there hasn’t been one at all.”
Michael Harris II laced a two-run double in the eighth inning on Saturday to help the Braves improve to 5-0 against Colorado this season.
Right-hander Tyler Mahle (5-10, 4.41 ERA) wasn’t regarded as a major trade deadline acquisition, but he’s proven to be a vital piece of Atlanta’s rotation. In four starts since being acquired from the San Francisco Giants, Mahle is 2-1 with a 1.52 ERA.
Last Sunday, Mahle allowed just one run on six hits across five innings while striking out four and walking two in a 4-2 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers.
“(Mahle) has been a shot in the arm for us,” Weiss said. “He’s got the split-finger and the cutter so he’s basically got a three-pitch mix, but he commands them all and he executes pitches. He’s a strike-thrower. He’s got a really good feel for sequences, for navigating lineups. He’s done a really nice job.”
Mahle is 3-1 with a 4.60 ERA in eight career appearances (all starts) against the Rockies. He faced them on July 5 and July 11 this season and allowed four earned runs across 11 1/3 innings.
Right-hander Mason Adams (0-0, 2.25 ERA) will make his second career start on Sunday for Colorado. The 26-year-old tossed four innings of one-run, three-hit ball in his major league debut against the Washington Nationals on Tuesday. Adams struck out five and walked three in the no-decision.
“He was poised for his debut. I thought he looked totally in control out there,” Colorado manager Warren Schaeffer said of Adams. “I thought he was attacking with his heater, the upshoot was really good, the two-seamer was good and the breaking ball was beneath the zone. … We’ll see if we can extend him (further into the game) moving forward, but that was good for his first time out.”
Adams, a 13th-round draft pick in 2022, was traded to Colorado in a package that sent Brenton Doyle to the Chicago White Sox.
-Field Level Media
