SE Atlanta News

Mark Bowman

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 home runs. The Braves surrendered as many home runs (two) as they hit. This power-reliant lineup will continue to live and die by the long ball. They struggled previously, homering once every 34 at-bats while losing 23 of 39 games from April 29-June 12. However, they have shown improvement, 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. His absence, combined with Michael Harris II likely being on the injured list for another month, has increased the team's reliance on home runs.

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 with a two-run shot in the seventh inning.

d’Arnaud’s seventh homer of the season and second in his past three starts wasn’t enough to overcome Morton's struggles. Morton allowed five runs and five hits over 5 2/3 innings, issuing five walks. 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.”

Last year, despite their powerful offense matching an MLB record with 307 homers and setting an AL/NL record with a .501 slugging percentage in the regular season, pitching remained crucial.

This year tells a similar story. As the Braves went 16-23 from April 29-June 12, their pitching staff ranked sixth in the Majors with a 3.52 ERA while their offense ranked eleventh with an 11.3 homer-per-fly-ball rate despite producing an MLB-best hard-hit rate during this span.

The hard-hit rate suggested it was only a matter of time before Ozuna received more support in terms of power hitting. The designated hitter's solo shot in the first inning marked his 21st home run this season.

“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 returning from injuries earlier this year. Murphy strained his left oblique on Opening Day but returned on May 27 and began contributing significantly again recently with two homers highlighting a four-hit game last Wednesday.

Riley missed two weeks due to a left intercostal strain but has been productive since his return from May 13-26; he has hit .500 over eight games following his return.

“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.”