The Braves didn’t wear the red replacements at home until May 13 against the Padres. But they cleverly filled their time at home with other great uniforms: they wore the gold-accented threads, in honor of the World Series, during the first homestand, then mixed in the 1974 throwback jerseys for games. May 6–7 against the Brewers.
So, red and blue are now in the Braves rotation.
But there’s bad news: the Braves are no longer wearing their cream-colored alternate jerseys.
When there is a decision to be made on what uniform to wear, the Braves starting pitcher for that day does the honors. The home team decides their uniform first, so the visiting team must conform to the uniform color of the hosts.
Interesting ride at Tucker Davidson’s night
Tucker Davidson had to adjust to something when he stepped onto a major league mound after spending the last month in Triple-A: There’s no pitching clock here.
The pitch clock, used to shorten matches, is used in minors. In the absence of runners, the clock is set to 14 seconds. With men, it goes to 18 seconds. The batter has until the nine-second mark to be ready to hit the batter’s box.
If the batter is not settled at that time, the umpire may put a strike in the count. If the pitcher does not begin his liquidation before the timer reaches zero, the umpire may evaluate a ball.
“It’s a work in progress, of course,” Davidson said. “I don’t know how exactly that’s going to translate to the big league level, just because the consequences get a little bigger every time you give Ronald Acuña Jr strikes. And you don’t want that to happen, he doesn’t want that to happen.
Davidson appeared to work quickly on Tuesday, which now makes sense. He pitched five scoreless innings in the win.
It was different without a pitch clock.
“It definitely picked up my pace, that’s for sure,” he said. “I kind of saw that (Tuesday) every time I was on the mound. I’m just standing up there and they’re still dancing around the box, getting ready. I’m just like, I’m not used to that.
Dansby Swanson continues to dazzle on the pitch
With a runner on first base on Tuesday, Dansby Swanson went to his right and made a sliding save on some ground between himself and third baseman Austin Riley, then kicked the ball from his knees to get an out at second for finish the round.
It was a terrific play, the last of a season full of them for the shortstop.
“That’s what he does,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “He’s an elite defensive player, in my mind.”
On Wednesday, Swanson had four over-average strikeouts, according to Baseball Savant. He was tied with four other shortstops with MLB leading among the positions.
Baseball Savant defines OAA as “the cumulative effect of all individual plays a player has been credited or debited with.” This range-based metric that assesses skill on the court takes into account the number of plays made and the difficulty of those plays.
Struggles in Day Games
Entering Wednesday’s game, the Braves were 4-9 in the day’s games. It was the majors’ third-worst record in these competitions this year.
Wednesday also marked the Braves’ last rubber game. The Braves came into this one 2-5 in rubber games, including 0-2 on the road.
