One of the most important storylines from now until the end of the season is how really the Hurston Waldrep outbreak is. It has huge implications for next season and to be honest the future of the organization. Well on Saturday afternoon, Waldrrep planted a flag in the “This breakout is very real” camp with a strong outing vs Miami.
Waldrrep came out of the block that threw harder in the first inning than he threw VS Cincinnati at any time in his first start. Waldrep had two fastballs clocks at 96.8 MPH and 97.5 MPH in the first inning, harder than any fastball of his first start.
Before the first two innings, Waldrrep Strikeout, Strikeout, Line -Out, Groundout, Groundout, Strikeout and it was clear at an early age that he was quite comfortable, even though this was his first start in the Truist Park this season.
What made him even more comfortable was that the attack immediately released an early rally. After Sean Murphy was hit by a Worp and Michael Harris doubled, Braves had 2nd and 3rd without outs in the second. Ozzie Albies followed with an RBI groundout and an Eli White followed with a sacrificial fly and the Braves had an early 2-0 lead.
Things still looked promising in the bottom of the third when the home team started the Frame Single, Walk, Single, Single to score 1 point and still let the bases load without outs. Unfortunately, the 1 point was everything they would get in that inning and Waldrrep had to settle for an early 3-0 lead.
It turns out that that would be enough points for the day as the Braves-smokie, which ended with 6 innings of 1 runball with his only blemish that came in his last inning when Miami got him for a Lead-Off Double and an RBI single from Xavier Edwards. Waldrrep became a defensive game as you will see from Jurickson Profar N The 5th inning when Augustin Ramirez struck what a Solo HR should have been over the left field wall, but Profar threw half of his body over the wall to bring it back and to keep the 3-0 shutout for the moment.
From there, the attack already removed the mystery from the game in the 2nd7 when Profar and Matt Olson both reached one out and Drake Baldwin was an RBI single to midfield to give Atlanta a 4-1 lead. Then Michael Harris put the last nail on the festivities with a huge 3-run Homer to right-centerfield to blow the game open.
Pierce Johnson, Dylan Lee and Tyler Kinley have cleaned up the last three innings and the Braves drove to a relatively easy 7-1 victory. Waldrep ended with 6 IP, 4 hits, 1 earned run, 6 strikeouts and 1 walk to improve his ERA to 1.54 to his first two starts. The Braves are moving to 49-67 of the season with game 2 of the double header that is coming tonight.
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