ATLANTA — After watching his new Braves teammates squash a three-run or more lead in three straight victories to earn a streak win over the Mets capped by Thursday’s most unlikely comeback — a 13-10 -Win on Ozzie Albies’ three-run walk-off homer with two outs in the 10th inning – Rookie AJ Smith-Shawver will take the ball in his first major league start on Friday against the Nationals.
Knowing which team will be playing behind him has helped the 20-year-old flamethrower ease his fears.
“This team is just unreal,” Smith-Shawver said of the Braves, who have gone on to have five straight wins to their season high of 13 games over .500 (37-24). “I mean, watching them the last few days coming back twice 4-1 against the Mets, there’s just never a doubt. The energy in the dugout – this team is really special and I’m just glad I can go out there and try to help them win.”
He said the Braves several hours earlier surpassed comebacks from 4-1 deficits on Tuesday and Wednesday against the Mets by coming back from 6-3, 9-5 and 10-6 deficits on Thursday, all in a game. Spencer Strider got off to the worst start of his young career, allowing eight hits, eight runs and two homers in four innings, including a five-run second inning after the Braves scored three in the first against Justin Verlander.
But it didn’t matter.
Ozzie Albies summed it up by saying, “We never gave up. We do that every night.” (Dale Zanine / USA Today)
The Braves, who have beaten the Mets in 11 of their last 13 games and in nine of 10 home games in that span, just kept going. Even trailing 10-6 when Francisco Alvarez hit his second home run of the game early in the sixth set, the Braves never faltered en route to their fourth straight comeback win. The first was Sunday in Arizona when Smith-Shawver made his debut on a relief appearance.
“I think that was the greatest and wildest,” Albies said when asked where Thursday ranked among the Braves’ comeback wins in recent years. “After all those runs, we came back. We never gave up. We do that every evening.”
They’ve done it literally every night of this series against the Mets. The Mets have had many lows in their long history, but have never lost three straight games in which they led by at least three runs.
Now they have it.
When asked how it felt to do this to the Mets and what message it conveyed, Albies smiled and said, “The best feeling.” And they already know the message, I don’t even have to say it.”
Orlando Arcia, who hit a game-winning solo home run against David Robertson in the ninth inning, said through a translator, “Unbelievable. From the first pitch to the last out, we will keep fighting and fighting. This is us. We fight and keep fighting until the last throw.”
After Travis d’Arnaud hit a one-out walk against Mets right-hander Tommy Hunter in the 10th to put the runners in first and second place, Sam Hilliard was the second-place ghost runner to go the inning to start, and Matt Olson – Eddie Rosario – was a pinch runner and flew off to raise Albies. He took a first pitch cutter for an inside ball and then scorched Hunter’s next pitch, another cutter but one that was over center and belt level.
Albies hit the right field pitches 408 feet, and a crowd of 39,347 roared in agreement as the Braves stormed the field to overpower their 165-pound second baseman, who was executing switch hits.
“It’s the best feeling,” Albies said. “As soon as it started, I was like, ‘Okay, that’s it.’ Completed. Game over.’ I don’t pimp (home runs) that much, but this made me stare a little.”
“Little muscle ball — I love Ozzie,” said Austin Riley, whose career best included four hits, including a two-run home run in the first inning against Verlander, who lasted three innings and gave up seven hits, five runs (four earned) and four walks.
The duel between pitchers Strider and Verlander ended early, but the Braves ended up looking good after the teams combined for 33 hits (19 by the Braves) and 23 runs.
“It’s hard to describe — holy cow,” said Braves manager Brian Snitker. “Wild, yes. Fun? I guess. I keep saying: don’t give up.”
After going through a partial list of every batsman and pitcher, Snitker said, “To say it was a great team win is probably an understatement. It is exactly what it was.”
The Braves have a 3 1/2 game lead over the Marlins, eight games over the third-ranked Phillies, and now an 8 1/2 game lead over the struggling Mets, who are down 30-33 and only four games ahead ahead of the last-placed Nationals.
Next up: The Braves are excited to see what they get Friday from Smith-Shawver, whose rise to the majors has been staggering.
He said he never played a game — at any level — until four years ago, the summer after his junior year of high school. Before that he was a third baseman, with baseball being his second sport after football. His seven starts that season were in front of minor league crowds ranging from 1,605 at Bowling Green Stadium to 4,383 at Blue Wahoos Stadium in Pensacola, and his largest home crowd was 2,308 at High-A Rome’s AdventHealth Stadium.
Smith-Shawver, who has pitched 112 1/3 innings since graduating from Colleyville (Texas) Heritage High School in 2021, will make his first major league start at Truist Park, where the Braves already have 20 sell-outs this season and likely to draw. On Friday it was again around 40,000.
Whirlwind, your name is Smith-Shawver.
“The trip was definitely crazy,” said Smith-Shawver, who explained that he’s pinched himself a few times since his call-up last week and his 2-1/3-inning performance Sunday in Arizona. “It was exciting. I was lucky enough to have a really cool trip. I’m excited to see what the future will bring.”
After one pitching season in high school, he was drafted by the Braves and made 28 minor league starts overall, just four above the single-A level. Now he’s set to start a major league game, and it’s all happening so fast Smith-Shawver said Thursday he hadn’t even thought about what to choose as a warm-up song.
“I’m just excited,” he said. “I think it’s a good opportunity. Time to step on the gas and implement pitches.”
Smith-Shawver learned he would be starting early in the week on Friday — before the Braves made it public so he could do his regular starting preparations. Pitching coach Rick Kranitz gave him the news.
“They just said to me, ‘Hey, you start on Friday,'” Smith-Shawver said. “And I was like, ‘Okay, honey, let’s do it.'”
Another benefit of knowing in advance: He was able to give his parents notice in advance so they could make plans for the trip from Texas to Atlanta. “It’s going to be pretty cool to share the moment with them,” he said.
If things had gone the way Smith-Shawver once envisioned, he would now be preparing for his third season of football at Texas Tech. He was a standout high school quarterback in the Fort Worth area and went to Texas Tech on a scholarship, probably to play both football and baseball.
But the Braves picked up a nearly $1 million contract bonus, more than four times the slot value of his seventh-round position in the 2021 draft.
Despite the football in his Truist Park locker – he said he takes one with him everywhere and at first loves it when it’s hard to give up – Smith-Shawver is happy with his career choice. He was asked what he would have thought if someone had told him on April 16, following his season debut for High-A Rome at the Bowling Green, that he would be starting for first-seeded and five-time defending NL East champions Braves in less than two months later.
“I probably would have laughed right in your face,” he said. “I don’t know if I would have expected it. But I’m just really happy to be here.”
In his seven minor league starts this season, he had a 1.09 ERA, with 45 strikeouts, 12 walks and a home run allowed in 33 innings. Big improvement from his first full season in 2022 when he had a 5.11 ERA in 17 starts at Low-A Augusta, with 133 strikeouts but also 39 walks in 68 2/3 innings.
The improvement came after he smoothed out his pitching mechanics and developed a good curveball to complement his 95-98mph fastballs that seem to execute almost effortlessly. He throws “easy cheese,” as it’s called in baseball slang.
Did we mention Smith-Shawver can throw a football at least 70 yards? And he is said to be able to lift a throw about 50 meters from his knees, but he shyly declined to confirm. Braves substitute AJ Minter — both AJ and AJ hails from Texas — worked out with Smith-Shawver at a Fort Worth gym during the offseason and played golf with him on several occasions. Minter said Smith-Shawver could hit a golf ball at least 340 yards and could be a competitor on long shots if he wanted to.
If things go the way he’s hoping Smith-Sharver will do his thing, the offense and the bullpen will perform like they did in four straight wins before Thursday and he’ll see the lights go out and a full house at Truist’s is tomahawk punch and chant, as has happened several times against the Mets.
“I’ve heard a lot of good things about this place,” he said. “I was just preparing for the chop. Fired me up quite a bit. It’s just cool to see the home crowd and how excited they are about the game. It’s definitely a bit different than the places I’ve been to this year.”
(Top Photo: Dale Zanine/USA Today)