Pitching, Dingers, and Nick Markakis Put the Braves on the Doorstep, and the Marlins in Deep Water

This time there wasn’t much offense. On the heels of a Game 1 that finished 9-5, the Atlanta Braves took a commanding two-games-to-none lead in the NLDS by pushing past the Miami Marlins by a score of 2-0. Ian Anderson and four relievers combined for the shutout, with a pair of solo home runs providing just enough run-support for a suddenly-stellar pitching staff.

What scoring there was came early. Dansby Swanson took Pablo López deep in the second inning with what was his second home run in his last two at-bats. In Game 1, the 26-year-old shortstop — given name James Dansby Swanson — had homered his final time up to cap a six-run Atlanta seventh.

Travis d’Arnaud, who’d preceded Swanson’s Game 1 blast with one of his own, then went yard against López in the fourth. Seven plate appearances into the NLDS, 31-year-old backstop — given name Travis E. d’Arnaud — now had a single, a double, and a pair of walks to go along with his two dingers.

Anderson wasn’t giving up anything. A suddenly-feeble Marlins lineup managed just three hits off him in five-and-two thirds innings — a near copy-cat of his no-runs-on-two-hits, six-inning performance last week in the Wild Card round.

The three-batter rule came into play after Anderson departed in the sixth following a long at-bat by Jesús Aguilar. Darren O’Day promptly put the tying runs on base with a HBP and a walk, meaning he had to face the left-handed Matt Joyce. No worries. The side-slinging righty retired Joyce on a harmless roller to end the inning to keep it 2-0.

The numbers suggested that he’d do just that. Left-handed hitters went 1-for-10 against O’Day this year, and they’ve slashed a paltry .228/.299/.411 against him over his 13 seasons. Any fretting by strategic second-guessers was wholly unnecessary.

The pitcher who came out of the Braves bullpen in the seventh qualifies as a southpaw success story. Pitching in the big-leagues for the first time in five years, Tyler Matzek fashioned a 1.92 FIP and fanned 43 batters in 29 innings during the regular season. O’Day was asked about him before the game.

“I’ve nicknamed him ‘The Death Star,’” O’Day said of Matzek. “I’m a Star Wars fan — I grew up in that era — and the empire built this secret weapon that came in and could destroy anything. Right-handed, left-handed, you could put guys in both boxes and Matzek can throw a fastball and a curveball by both of them.”

Matzek set down the Marlins in order, then ceded reliever duties to fellow southpaw Will Smith for the eighth. What was arguably the game’s biggest play followed.

Corey Dickerson began Miami’s penultimate offensive frame by reaching on a Swanson error, bringing the tying run to the plate. Meanwhile, standing in right field was a three-time Gold Glove winner with 15 big-league seasons under his belt.

Jon Berti looped a ball that dropped in front of Nick Markakis down the right field line, but the result wasn’t the expected two on with none out. Instead, caught in no-man’s land with Markakis charging hard, Dickerson got a late start toward second and was nipped at the bag by a strong-and-accurate throw. What looked like a single became a 9-6 force out.

“The biggest thing with that play was [Markakis’s] wherewithal to not dive and try to make the catch,” Atlanta manager Brian Snitker said after the game. “He does that and we’re probably second and third. That was a huge play.”

Smith proceeded to fan Aguilar and induce an inning-ending come-backer by Brian Anderson; the score remained 2-0. Mark Melancon then breezed through the Marlins in the ninth, and the Braves had their third shutout in four postseason games. More importantly, they’re not only in the catbird seat against their division rivals, they’re one step closer to erasing two-plus decades of October frustration.

Freddie Freeman expressed that sentiment well following a Game 1 win in Atlanta’s wildcard series versus the Cincinnati Reds:

“I think some of these guys are too young to really understand the history of the Braves in the postseason,” the Brave’s longest-tenured player told reporters. “But I’m not one of [them]. I know what’s going on.”

Eight days after those words were spoken, what’s going on is that the Braves are one win away from a berth in the National League Championship Series. They’ll get a chance to punch that ticket tomorrow afternoon with Kyle Wright on the mound. Miami will counter with flame-throwing rookie Sixto Sánchez.