ATLANTA -- Instead of committing nearly $100 million to Josh Donaldson, the Braves improved their offense with the lower-risk, high-reward signings of Marcell Ozuna and Travis d'Arnaud, who quickly endeared themselves to Atlanta fans.

Ozuna enjoyed his first two-homer game of the season and d’Arnaud highlighted a three-hit performance with a home run that propelled Max Fried and the Braves to an 11-2 win over the Phillies on Friday night at Truist Park.

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“With a couple guys going down, people need to step up, and [Ozuna and d’Arnaud] obviously have been a big part of our offense so far,” Fried said. “I can’t say enough. Three homers between them definitely gave us the boost we needed tonight.”

As Fried has produced a stellar 1.32 ERA through his first six starts, he has carried the load for a fractured rotation that counts him as its only remaining original member. So it was nice for the lefty to relax as his teammates chased Aaron Nola in the third inning and then rolled through a seven-run fifth highlighted by Ozuna’s team-high seventh homer -- a three-run shot off Cole Irvin.

d’Arnaud and Ozuna had sparked a four-run third against Nola by depositing consecutive homers into the pond beyond the center-field wall. The back-to-back splash shots provided a lead for Fried, who had surrendered a first-inning run on three soft singles that had an average exit velocity of 60.4 mph.

Speaking of exit velocity, d’Arnaud’s homer came off the bat at 109.3 mph. Ozuna’s two blasts registered readings of 107.2 mph and 105.1 mph. Both entered the day ranked within the 89th percentile or better in both hard-hit rate and average exit velocity in the Majors.

“They’re both really talented hitters,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “Travis has got some thunder in that [bat]. I’ve seen Ozuna for a long time and hadn’t really seen Travis that much. But I’m very impressed with what he does offensively also.”

Ozuna signed a one-year, $18 million deal with the Braves a week after the Twins reached their four-year, $92 million deal with Donaldson, who played just seven games before suffering yet another calf strain. The third baseman has not played since July 31.

Meanwhile, Ozuna has filled Donaldson’s void in the cleanup spot quite admirably. The veteran outfielder averaged 560 at-bats over the past three seasons. Using that number, his current pace would be that of a 42-homer season.

“His approach is so much more advanced than what I initially thought, when I was just calling a game against him,” d’Arnaud said. “He has power to all fields.”

As d’Arnaud has hit .344 with a .992 OPS thus far, he has shown why the Braves gave him a two-year, $16 million deal in November. The veteran catcher has more than capably filled the void created when Brian McCann retired at the end of last season.

Donaldson provided MVP-caliber production over the final four months of last season, and like McCann, he became a highly respected and beloved clubhouse member.

But instead of taking an expensive gamble on Donaldson staying healthy enough to extend last year’s success, the Braves compensated for the loss of power and upgraded the catching position at a cost of $26 million this year. That is just slightly higher than the average salary ($23 million) Donaldson will draw during his four-year deal.

Through 26 games, the first-place Braves are averaging 5.2 runs per game, which is just shy of last year’s 5.3 average. Yeah, the sample size is small, but the Braves have been without Ozzie Albies for more than two weeks, and Ronald Acuña Jr. has been sidelined for more than a week with his own wrist ailment.

Still, the additions of Ozuna and d’Arnaud have given fans reason to think this year’s lineup might end up being remembered as being even better than the powerful one that made 2019 so exciting.

“It will be nice ... when we get everybody back to see what we could do,” Snitker said. “We’re doing really well without two of our bigger pieces. That [lineup] is going to get even longer when they get back.”