Albies' ABS win sets stage for Braves' huge inning

PHOENIX -- How influential can a successful ABS challenge be?

Well, without Ozzie Albies successfully challenging a full-count pitch, the Braves might not have scored at all in what became an eight-run fifth inning during a 17-2 win over the D-backs on Thursday night at Chase Field.

“I’m happy they have that system,” Albies said. “That changed the whole game.”

Those who glance at the score and see the 15-run deficit likely won’t understand how one pitch could have such a significant impact. But D-backs manager Torey Lovullo understandably wonders how much different the night might have gone had the fifth inning started with his starter, Ryne Nelson, striking out Albies instead of walking him on a 3-2 pitch.

"We're still learning to control our emotions,” Lovullo said. “You’ve got to get back on the mound and get ready to compete as fast as possible. So whether it did or didn't [affect him mentally], I haven't had a chance to talk to him, but I think it's got to be tough.”

Nelson didn’t necessarily agree with his manager’s assessment that the challenge result might have influenced him emotionally over the remainder of the inning. But he understood the significance of the walk.

Later in the fifth, Matt Olson added to the splendor of his first-inning homer with an RBI double, and Austin Riley celebrated his 29th birthday by following with a two-run double. Those extra-base hits accounted for most of the damage against Nelson, who issued three walks in the frame, including one to Ronald Acuña Jr. with the bases loaded.

“You never know what these things are going to lead to,” Weiss said. “Sometimes they seem so innocent at the time. But all that stuff led to eight runs.”

The Braves’ first inning of eight runs or more since Aug. 26 of last year (ninth inning against the Marlins) came with a direct assist from the new ABS system.

As soon as Nelson’s 3-2 curveball landed in catcher Gabriel Moreno’s glove, Albies tossed his bat and leaned down to unbuckle his shin guard. He then quickly tapped his helmet once he realized plate umpire Malachi Moore had called a strike.

Instead of remaining at the plate to see the result of the challenge on the stadium’s video board, Albies began walking toward first base. He continued toward the bag when the challenge showed the pitch missed the zone by 1.1 inches.

“I don't even want to think about Ozzie in the dugout, how mad he would be, and all the things he might be saying to an umpire,” Braves starter Reynaldo López said through an interpreter. “But all jokes aside, obviously you know that that overturned call [and] that walk changed everything.”

Had the pitch remained a strike, resulting in an Albies strikeout, and the rest of the inning evolved the same, Drake Baldwin’s bases-loaded grounder would have ended the inning without Atlanta scoring a run.

Baldwin’s hustle down the first-base line actually extended the frame. First-base umpire Mike Estabrook initially ruled Baldwin out at the back end of what would have been an inning-ending double play. But the call was overturned after the Braves issued another successful challenge.

With the inning-ending double play erased, Olson and Riley followed with their respective doubles. A Mike Yastrzemski walk was followed by an RBI single from Albies, who scored on Michael Harris II's two-run double.

Along with being eventful and somewhat wacky, the eight-run eruption was also historic. Riley’s double scored Baldwin to make the reigning National League Rookie of the Year the first Braves player to score during each of a season’s first seven games since Hank Aaron in 1957. The only other player in franchise history to do this since 1900 was Jimmy Collins, who did it in the year 1900.

The 17 runs scored by the Braves was their most since they scored 21 runs in the first game of a doubleheader against the Mets on Aug. 12, 2023.