ATLANTA BRAVES NOTES:
Rubber Games
Atlanta and Cleveland have split the first two games of this series and will play the rubber game tonight. The Braves have yet to lose such a game this season, going 6-0 in rubber games this year. The Braves have taken series from the Orioles, Rangers, Mariners, Diamondbacks, Tigers and Reds in the deciding game. Per Elias, Atlanta has never gone unbeaten in rubber games across a full season, and the last team to do so was the 2020 Rays (5-0). The last team go unbeaten with at least as many wins as Atlanta this season was the 1994 Expos, who played to a 9-0 record in rubber games.
TONIGHT’S GAME: The Braves and Guardians are set to conclude a three-game series tonight in what is the only scheduled meetings between the two teams this season…Atlanta and Cleveland are playing for the first time since 2019.
- Cleveland beat Atlanta, 6-5, in 10 innings last night to split the first two games of this series.
- The 2019 series was also here in Cleveland, and the two clubs have not played in Atlanta since 2016… The Guardians are the only major league team yet to play at Truist Park after the Twins visited last homestand.
- The Braves and Guardians have played just 17 times since the advent of interleague play in 1997, with Atlanta playing to a 9-8 record (.529) all-time versus Cleveland…The two franchises have met twice in the World Series, with the then-Indians beating the Boston Braves in six games in 1948, before Atlanta bested Cleveland in six games in 1995 for the championship.
- RH Michael Soroka has never faced the Guardians, but has pitched against four members of Cleveland’s active position players…The 6-foot5, 225-pound right-hander earned his first win of the season in his last start, going 6.0 innings and allowing three runs to beat the Marlins…It was his first win in the majors since September 19, 2019, a span of 1,381 days.
- RH Cal Quantrill has made two career starts against Atlanta, both in 2019 while with the Padres, and is 0-1 despite allowing just two earned runs over 11.2 innings (1.54 ERA)…The 6-foot-3, 195-pound Canadian is 2-5 with a 6.18 ERA (43 ER/62.2 IP) in 12 starts for the Guardians this season, including an 0-3 record and a 15.43 ERA (20 ER/11.2 IP) in his last three turns.
LOSS: Atlanta scored a run in the top of the ninth to force extra innings last night, but fell to the Guardians, 6-5…The loss snapped the Braves’ nine-game winning streak, the longest for Atlanta this season.
- The Braves lost in extra-innings for just the second time this season, falling to 4-2 in such games… Atlanta suffered a walk-off defeat for the fourth time.
- Atlanta lost for just the second time in its last 19 games, after entering play with a 17-1 record since June 14…The Braves had two winning streaks of at least eight games since that date, and have three such streaks on the season…No other team has done so even twice.
- Each of Atlanta’s last three defeats have been by one run, and two have come via extra-inning walkff… The Braves were walked off in Detroit, 6-5 in 10 innings on June 12, and lost at Cincinnati, 11-10 on June 23…Atlanta has not suffered a multi-run loss since a 6-2 defeat to the Nationals on June 11.
- The Braves lost for just the fifth time this season when scoring at least five runs, and are 45-5 (.900) in these games.
HOMER STREAK: Atlanta got a pair of homers from Ozzie Albies last night, and the Braves have now homered in each of their last 22 games dating to June 11…The club has hit 58 total homers during these 22 games (2.6 per game).
- Atlanta’s run is the longest active homer streak in baseball, and tied for the longest such run this season…Tampa Bay homered in 22 straight to open the season.
- The Braves have hit multiple homers in each of their last five games, also the longest such active streak in the majors.
- Atlanta last homered in more consecutive games in 2006, going deep in 23 straight from June 25 to July 24.
- Atlanta has 163 total homers on the season, 28 more than any other team in baseball (Dodgers, 135)… The Braves are on pace for 311 home runs this season, which would establish a new single-season MLB record.
OZZIE ALBIES: Went 2-for-3 with a pair of homers and three RBI last night, including the game-tying shot leading off the ninth inning…The effort was the ninth
multi-homer game of his career and his second this season.
- Albies is batting .264/.318/.525 with an .843 OPS on the season, and leads all primary second basemen in slugging (.525), homers (22) and RBI (63)…His .843 OPS ranks third.
- He is on pace for 42 homers and 120 RBI on the season…In the live-ball era (since 1920), just one second baseman has compiled a 40 homer/120 RBI season…Hall-of-Famer Rogers Hornsby collected 42 homers and drove in 152 in 1922, 100 years ago.
- Both of Albies homers last night came from the left side, and he is batting .311/.375/.733 left-handed over his last 27 games dating to June 4…In his first 58 games of the season prior to June 4, he batted just .168/.238/.316 with six total homers from the left side.
RUNS BATTED IN: Ozzie Albies drove in three runs last night and has 63 RBI on the season, second most in the National League…He trails just teammate Matt Olson, who has 68.
- They are looking to become the first pair of Braves teammates to finish first and second in NL RBI totals since Marcell Ozuna (56) and Freddie Freeman (53) did so in 2020…No Braves teammates have finished first and second in a 162-game season in the Atlanta era.
- The last National League team to have teammates lead the league in RBI in a full 162-game season was the 1996 Colorado Rockies, when Dante Bichette (150) and Andres Galarraga (141) did so.
- Atlanta’s infielders, including catchers, have combined for 274 RBI on the season, easily most in the National League…The Dodgers rank second with 233 RBI.
CLEVELAND GUARDIANS NOTES:
ROSARIO DRIVES IN 4 RUNS, CLEVELAND WALKS IT OFF
The Cleveland Guardians triumphed over the Atlanta Braves in a thrilling 10-inning, 6-5 walk-off victory on Tuesday night at Progressive Field, evening the series at one win apiece…coming off a 4-2 road trip, the Guardians are 1-1 to begin this 7-game homestand against Atlanta (1-1, one-to-play) & Kansas City (4 games)…Cleveland is 7-3-1 over club’s last 11 series since May 26 (21-15 record)…Guardians have won 9 of last 11 finales. » After Ozzie Albies tied the game at 5-5 with a lead-off solo shot to start the 9th – his second homer of the game, as well as just the second allowed by EMMANUEL CLASE all season – the contest was decided by a sequence of 10th-inning events…MYLES STRAW ended the top half of the frame by throwing out Auto Runner Sam Hilliard at the plate trying to score on Eddie Rosario’s flyout to CF; catcher DAVID FRY, who started the contest in RF, received Straw’s throw on a line and applied the tag, minutes before ending the game with his first career walk-off plate appearance, a 2-out RBI-single off the LF wall to score AMED ROSARIO, who drove in 4 of the Guardians’ 6 tallies…[Amed] Rosario recorded his 10th game with 3+ hits this season, tied for the AL lead, giving Cleveland a 2-0 lift with a 2-run double in the 3rd ahead of a lead-off solo homer in the 6th to pull the Guards to within 4-3 and a go-ahead RBI-single in the bottom of the 7th to put his club up 5-4…SHANE BIEBER (4.2IP, 6H, 4R-ER, 5BB, 4SO, HR, WP, 97 pitches) worked 4.0 scoreless frames before Atlanta staged a 4-run rally in the 5th, which included a 2-run blast by Albies, an RBI-single from Travis d’Arnaud and RBI-double by [Eddie] Rosario…just one of Bieber’s 5 walks came around to score.
Cleveland (42-43) sits in 2nd place in the AL Central standings, 1.0-game behind 1st-place Minnesota (44-43) and 4.5 games ahead of 3rd-place Detroit (37-47)…Guardians have won 10 of 15, 17 of 28 and 20 of last 34, though have also dropped 37 of last 70 overall since starting the year 9-6.
BURNIN’ RUBBER
Cleveland and Atlanta are set to square off in a rubber match on Wednesday night as Cleveland looks to become the first team to win a series against the Braves this season since the Oakland Athletics (5/29-31)…the Guards are 5-4 in rubber matches at Progressive Field this season and 8-6 overall, while Atlanta is a perfect 6-0 in rubber matches in 2023…Cleveland is looking to win its first series against the Braves since sweeping Atlanta in 3-games at Turner Field from June 27-29, 2016…this is just the sixth regular season series all-time between the two clubs…. the two sides have also faced each other in two different World Series…Cleveland’s last World Championship came against the Boston Braves in 1948 (4-2), and the Braves won their first World Series in Atlanta in 1995 over Cleveland (4-2)…the Clevelanders are 8-9 all-time against Atlanta, holding a 3-5 record at Progressive Field, and have never won a home regular season series against the Braves….the Guards are 6-8 in home Interleague games, 12- 17 overall in Interleague play this year and will be looking to win back-to-back Interleague series for the first time this season.
YOU WANT SOME FRIES WITH THAT WALKOFF?
DAVID FRY recorded his first career walk-off plate appearance with a 2-out, RBI-single in the 10th frame last night…Fry went 2-for4 with one walk and one stolen base and played both right field and catcher…became the third player in franchise history to play both right field and catcher in the same game, joining Ron Pruitt
(last done in 1979) and Ted Easterly (1910)…per Elias, the last time a player played at both right field and catcher in the game in which they also had a walk-off plate appearance was Gary Carter for Montreal against the Mets on June 19, 1975…Carter started the game in right field, eventually shifting to catcher at the start of the 12th frame, before delivering a walk-off single in the bottom of the 13th…over his last 6 games since June 23, Fry is hitting .375 (6-for-16) with 3 RBI.
» Last night was Cleveland’s first 4th of July walk-off plate appearance since Jerry Kindall hit a walk-off home run against Boston in 1963…entering last night, Cleveland had 10 walk-off plate appearances on July 4th from 1914-1963 and zero since then.
THE BOY OF SUMMER
Over his last 4 games, AMED ROSARIO is hitting .400 (8-for-20) with one home run, one double and 10 RBI, including plating 4 of Cleveland’s 6 runs in last night’s contest…has driven in multiple runs in 4 straight games, making him the third MLB hitter this season to accomplish the feat (ChC’s Ian Happ and LAA’s Brandon Drury, both 4 games)…the last Cleveland hitter with a multi-RBI streak of 4-or-more games was JOSÉ RAMÍREZ from September 19-22, 2020 (4G).
Since June 6, Rosario leads MLB in hits (38) ahead of ATL’s Ronald Acuña Jr. and Michael Harris II and MIA’s Luis Arraez (37 each)…over that span, he is slashing .349/.390/.459 with one home run, 9 extra-base hits, 19 RBI, 16 runs and an OPS of .849 in 26 games…Rosario tallied his 10th 3-hit game of the season last night…he leads all MLB hitters with 41 3-hit games since the start of 2021.
Over his past 26 games, he has raised his average from .224 to .266 and has hit safely in 10 of his last 11 games and 22 of 26 games overall…over that span (26G), he’s hitting .414 (12-for-29) against lefties, 6th in the AL during that stretch, and .325 (26-for-80) against right-handers…he has seen success in the summer months (June-August) over his career, hitting for a .288 average (443-for1,538) with 33 home runs and 168 RBI, compared to a .245 (223- for-907) average with 13 home runs and 84 RBI in the season’s opening months (March-May)…Rosario is leading MLB with a .520 average (13-for-25) with RISP and 2 outs…MLB average is .241. BATTING AVERAGE WITH RISP AND 2 OUTS, 2023
NAME TEAM AVG H AB RBI
AMED ROSARIO CLE .520 13 25 14
Yordan Alvarez HOU .500 10 20 18
Matt McLain CIN .500 9 18 14
Akil Baddoo DET .474 9 19 13
Jonah Heim TEX .471 16 35 30
LARRY DOBY DAY
On July 5, 1947, Larry Doby made his Major League debut with Cleveland and broke the color barrier in the American League… Doby’s presence in the lineup made history in baseball and was instrumental in Cleveland’s 1948 World Series title…in the Majors, Doby was a seven-time All-Star and two-time AL home run leader…the Cleveland Guardians are proud to celebrate the 75th anniversary of Larry Doby and his legacy.
Upon entry into the ballpark today, the first 10,000 fans will receive a 1948 Larry Doby Cap courtesy of Dollar Bank…there will also be special giveaways from the Cleveland Strikers and in-game content highlighting Larry Doby and his legacy
TONIGHT’S STARTER – #47 CAL QUANTRILL RHP
QUANTRILL’S MLB CAREER
W-L ERA G GS IP H R ER BB SO
2023 2-5 6.18 12 12 62.2 72 44 43 22 35
Career 33-21 3.85 125 87 533.2 516 250 228 152 404
QUANTRILL AT HOME
W-L ERA G GS IP H R ER BB SO
2023 1-3 6.04 5 5 25.1 26 17 17 12 13
Career 21-6 3.46 67 51 301.1 270 122 116 81 223
TONIGHT’S START
The 28-year-old right-hander is slated to make his 13th start of the season, sixth at home, in the finale of this 3-game series with the Atlanta Braves…returned on June 30 from a stint on the Injured List that caused him to miss 24 games due to right shoulder inflammation, the most time he has missed due to injury in his career.
Has made 5 quality starts in 12 outings this season, however, he is seeking his first quality start since May 13 against Los Angeles-AL (6.0IP, 6H, 3R/ER, 1HR, 3BB, 2SO)…looking for his first win since May 7 against Minnesota, working 7.0 shutout innings on 1 hit with 4 punchouts and 3 walks in that outing.
LAST TIME OUT
in his first start off the Injured List, Quantrill suffered the loss in his third straight outing, allowing 6 runs (earned) on 8 hits with 2 walks and a strikeout in 3.1 innings of work on June 30 at Chicago-NL…he faced the minimum in the first 2 innings before facing trouble in the 3rd…he allowed 4 of the first 5 hitters in the inning to reach base as Nico Hoerner plated a pair of runs with an RBI-single…his outing ended in the 4th after 4 of the first 5 Cubs batters tallied base hits, highlighted by a Jared Young 2-RBI triple and Mike Tauchman RBI-single…after Quantrill was relieved, Tauchman scored from a Christopher Morel sacrifice fly…marked his fifth time recording a career-low one strikeout in a start, last done on July 10, 2021 vs. Kansas City.
AN ADMIRABLE ATLANTA ADVERSARY
This will be his third career appearance/start against Atlanta, owning a 0-1 record with a 1.54 ERA (2ER/11.2IP) against the Braves…both previous starts against Atlanta came in 2019 when he was a member of the Padres…on May 1, 2019, he suffered the loss, going 5.2 innings with 6 hits, 2 runs (earned), a walk and 3 strikeouts…2 months later, on July 14, 2019, he worked 6.0 shutout innings with 3 hits, a walk and 3 strikeouts, but did not factor into the decision…this will be Quantrill’s seventh career start against the NL East, owning an 0-1 career record with a 3.31 ERA (12ER/32.2IP) against the division…did not factor into both starts against the NL East this season, first at Washington on April 14 (6.0IP, 6H, 3R/ER, 2BB, 3SO) and at New York-NL on May 19 (5.2IP, 6H, 3R/ER, 0BB, 6SO)…in each of his previous 6 career starts against the division, he has never allowed more than 3 runs…Quantrill has recorded at least one victory against every MLB division, except the NL East. » Has made 4 Interleague starts this season, owning an 0-2 record with an 8.35 ERA (17ER/18.1IP)…lost his most recent Interleague
outing on June 30 at Chicago-NL…holds a 3-3 record with a 4.27 ERA (43ER/90.2IP) in 26 Interleague appearances (15 starts).
PROGRESSIVE FIELD’S PRO: HOME OF THE BRAVE
In 49 games/39 starts at Progressive Field, Quantrill possesses a 15-3 record with a 3.23 ERA (83ER/231.1IP) with 161 strikeouts…among hurlers with 20-or-more starts at Progressive Field since it opened in 1994, he holds the ballpark’s highest win percentage (.833), ahead of Orel Hershiser (21-5, .808)…since 2019, Quantrill’s .842 win percentage at home ranks 3rd in MLB (min. 10 decisions), behind Chris Stratton (.857) and Spencer Strider (.846).
Earlier this season, his 14-game home win streak was snapped after suffering the loss to Seattle on April 8, ending the longest home win streak in Progressive Field history…entering this season, he had not lost a start at home since September 9, 2019 when he was with San Diego, a span of 36 starts…overall, he boasts a 21-6 record with a 3.46 ERA (116ER/301.1IP) across 66G/50GS at home during his career.
