Austin Riley put the Atlanta Braves ahead at Yankee Stadium with a solo homer in the eighth inning. Matt Olson added another in the ninth. A two-run lead, two swings, no one aboard for either of them. Then the Yankees tied the game in the bottom of the ninth and won 3-2 in the 10th.
Atlanta Braves home runs had built the lead, but it barely held up. Max Fried, now a Yankees starter, had kept his former club scoreless for 6⅓ innings. Riley and Olson finally broke through against New York’s bullpen. Their homers left almost no margin for a late mistake.
One August loss cannot define a season. The Braves have since won the NL East, and both clubs would have to advance through separate playoff brackets to meet again. Still, that night posed a useful October question: When Atlanta’s biggest bat connects, who will be on base?
The season-long distribution of Atlanta Braves home runs gives that question some weight. Through 157 games, MLB’s official hitting splits show 120 of Atlanta’s 198 home runs came with the bases empty. That is 60.6 percent. Across the majors, 3,124 of 5,408 homers were solo shots, or 57.8 percent. Atlanta sits roughly three percentage points above that mark.
The gap deserves attention, not alarm. Atlanta also ranks among the league’s home-run leaders. A solo shot can break a tie, as Olson proved later in the Yankees series. Hitters should never pass up a pitch they can drive because nobody reached ahead of them.
However, the split gives the August opener more weight than a single frustrating box score. Against Fried, Atlanta had trouble placing anyone on base before its sluggers came up. The two late homers produced two runs. New York answered with two in the ninth, then pushed home the winner an inning later.
An earlier chance slipped away on the bases. Atlanta appeared to score in the first inning, but a replay review showed that Drake Baldwin had not touched home plate before New York completed a tag play elsewhere. Fried settled in after that, allowing only three hits during his start. The Braves had a chance to put him behind early. Instead, they waited until the eighth to score.
The next afternoon offered a counterexample. Against Gerrit Cole, Braves outfielder Mike Yastrzemski doubled home a run in the fifth, and Jim Jarvis followed with an RBI single. Those hits put Atlanta ahead without a homer. New York reclaimed the lead, though, and Ronald Acuña Jr.’s eighth-inning solo shot brought the Braves within one. They lost 5-4.
Across two games, Atlanta had found several ways to score. It could not quite join them in the same innings. Atlanta Braves home runs kept both games close, but the lineup struggled to build a cushion around them.
In Sunday’s finale, Olson ended six scoreless innings with a solo homer off Cam Schlittler. New York tied the game on Trent Grisham’s eighth-inning homer. This time, Michael Harris II supplied the decisive hit: a 10th-inning single that brought home Atlanta’s second run in a 2-1 win. The Braves went 1-2 in New York, with every game decided by one run.
That series was no argument against swinging for the fences. Olson’s homer gave Atlanta a lead on Sunday. Acuña’s shot kept Saturday’s game close. The issue was how often a long drive had to do its work alone.
By September, the Braves had supplied a much better picture of their power. On September 18 against Houston, Harris, Acuña and Olson each hit a two-run homer in a 6-2 win that secured a postseason berth. Two days later, Atlanta clinched the division when Yastrzemski hit a three-run homer in the sixth inning of a 4-2 victory.
Against Houston, Atlanta Braves home runs came with teammates aboard. Mauricio Dubón, whom Atlanta acquired from Houston before the season, doubled for the Braves ahead of Yastrzemski’s decisive swing. Dubón reached. Yastrzemski homered. Atlanta collected three runs instead of one.
Those Houston games also keep the Yankees series in perspective. A club that hits 198 homers and claims its division has plainly found ways to build rallies. The Braves do not carry a season-long inability to score with men aboard into October. Their solo-homer share sits only modestly above the league rate. What August exposed was a vulnerability against strong pitching, when chances to reach base ahead of the middle order grew scarce.
That is where an at-bat without a highlight can change a game. A hitter can spoil a tough two-strike pitch, take a breaking ball below the zone or drive a single through the infield. If he reaches ahead of Olson, the pitcher faces a different problem. He must protect against a walk and a two-run swing while the next batter waits on deck.
Atlanta will see pitchers capable of giving it little in October. Fried did it in August. Cole struck out nine in the following game. The Braves can still beat that kind of pitching with a solo homer and excellent work on the mound; their Sunday win in New York proved as much. They should also remember how close the other two games came to turning on one extra baserunner.
No one needs to ask Olson or Riley to shorten a swing when a pitch arrives over the plate. The useful work happens around them. It happens when a teammate reaches to start an inning, when a runner avoids an out on the paths and when the bottom of the order gives the stars another plate appearance with someone aboard.
At Yankee Stadium, Riley and Olson sent balls into the seats and watched a two-run lead disappear. In Houston, Dubón stood on base when Yastrzemski swung, and a division title followed. Atlanta Braves home runs can decide either kind of game. The runners ahead of them decide how much damage they do.
Another Yankees game may never come. Another close game almost certainly will. When Atlanta’s next drive climbs toward the wall, the Braves will know how many runs are riding on it.
READ MORE: New York Yankees Must Control Baserunning Pressure Against Atlanta Braves
FAQ’s
How many of the Braves’ home runs were solo shots?
Through 157 games, Atlanta hit 120 solo homers among its 198 home runs.
Did the Braves win their August series against the Yankees?
No. New York won two of three games, and each game finished with a one-run margin.
Who hit the homer that helped Atlanta clinch the NL East?
Mike Yastrzemski hit a three-run homer against Houston after Braves teammate Mauricio Dubón doubled.
Could the Braves face the Yankees again in October?
Yes, but both teams would have to advance through their separate postseason brackets.
