Braves sweep Marlins behind No. 10 prospect’s quality start

MIAMI — The Braves headed dwelling from Miami on Thursday night with some blended feelings.

On one hand, Atlanta swept Miami, getting the collection finale win with a 6-3 victory on Thursday afternoon, and Marcell Ozuna had a breakout efficiency (6-for-13 with three homers within the collection). But within the course of, the Braves misplaced righty Kyle Wright (proper shoulder irritation) to the IL for the second time in simply over a month, and headed dwelling with Michael Harris II (jammed proper knee) everyday.

“It’s just really, really good [to finish the road trip 5-1],” supervisor Brian Snitker mentioned. “But this was a rough road trip. I mean, the Marlins are playing really good. … This was a tough series coming in here.”

After utilizing 5 bullpen arms on Wednesday following Wright’s third-inning exit, the Braves wanted a lift. They bought simply that from Dylan Dodd, who was recalled from Triple-A Gwinnett to make a spot begin.

“It was pretty crazy,” Dodd mentioned. “I rushed over to the ballpark [after I got the call yesterday], threw, and then went straight to the airport. Ended up having a delay, and then ended up getting here — not terrible, I think it was like 10:30 [p.m. ET] or so.”

Dodd, Atlanta’s No. 10 prospect per MLB Pipeline, delivered a high quality begin whereas showcasing the maturity and arsenal that propelled him from High-A Rome to Triple-A final 12 months in simply 26 begins — solely 9 of which got here at Double-A Mississippi.

Things didn’t begin off simply for Dodd towards the Marlins, although. He allowed a single to Jon Berti to guide off the primary inning, then gave up a two-run homer to Jorge Soler within the subsequent at-bat. But he rebounded rapidly and induced a pair of flyouts. Dodd labored by means of a couple of jams towards Miami, however these solely highlighted the skills that, whereas maybe not solely Major League-ready, are indicative of the southpaw’s vivid future.

“Oh my god, that was awesome,” Snitker mentioned of Dodd’s begin. “Really big. … I looked up there and it’s just — he just throws strike after strike after strike. Kid’s got a good future. As he matures and gets experience — it’s probably not the last time we’ll see him this year, so that was really big for us and the bullpen. He left us in really good shape to play a game tomorrow.”

“He had second and third, nobody out and [he] stranded them, kept us there,” catcher Sean Murphy mentioned. “That was huge. That was great — a lot of maturity. He didn’t let it get too fast and snowball on him, and he just kept pitching and he minimized and did great.”

Murphy was describing the fifth inning, when Dodd allowed his first stroll to guide off the inning, then gave up a single and an RBI double to the highest of the order. That might rattle anybody, however Dodd held his personal. He induced a pair of flyouts to his nook outfielders, who’ve such highly effective arms they have been capable of maintain speedster and reigning stolen-base champ Jon Berti on third base.

“He just throws another strike,” Snitker mentioned. “He doesn’t get rattled or anything, and a pretty good hitter he gave up a homer to [in the first inning]. I noticed that in the spring — you might get whacked around, but he comes right back and gets in the strike zone. So that was really impressive, and it was a huge, huge lift for us today.”

Dodd gave up three runs on eight hits and three walks over six innings. That’s misleading although, as a result of Dodd didn’t difficulty a stroll till the fifth inning, which solely occurred after Peyton Burdick labored an 11-pitch at-bat.

Part of Dodd’s means to generate outcomes is as a result of he can throw strikes. He had a 62% first-pitch-strike charge towards the Marlins; MLB common is 60.6%, and coming into Thursday, the typical for Braves starters was 61.4%. Dodd was efficiently attending to two-strike counts (he bought forward with two strikes 12 occasions), however he wasn’t getting that third swing-and-miss. So again to work he goes.

“I think for me to really get a lot better, I think it comes to getting more swing and miss,” Dodd mentioned. “I do a pretty good job of attacking the zone and filling it up and getting guys to 0-2, but recently I’ve been struggling to get the third swing and miss.”

“It’s good building blocks,” Murphy mentioned. “And good stuff — he can learn a lot from that.”