On paper, it looked like a big advantage that the Atlanta Braves got to play the makeup game for a June 18 rainout at the end of August. The San Francisco Giants would have to wait 10 weeks, fly across the country ahead of a six-game road trip, and trade away six veterans in the interim before facing a division-leading team on a seven-game win streak.
But waiting meant the Braves had to face a trio of rookies that weren’t on the roster three weeks ago. Monday night, Sluggin’ Jonah Cox, Nate “The Great” Furman, and Turner “King Of The” Hill rained on the Braves parade with three runs, five fits, and four RBIs in a 7-3 win. Their sad fans were Tomahawk-chopping their umbrellas as they walk out of the stadium in despair.
This means that, perhaps unofficially, the Giants have finally swept a series in 2026. And it only took them until the last day of August! Their rainy visit to Hotlanta Wetlanta in June saw one game cancelled and another postponed after a two-hour rain delay, but the Giants won both halves of an improvised doubleheader on the one day with ded=cent weather. This means the Giants technically have swept a series this season, won a series on the road in the process and are currently on a three-series unbeaten streak.
Former Brave Anthony Molina (2-0), acquired in the deadline deal for Tyler Mahle, won his second game in seven days by giving up three runs in five innings in his first start of the season and the third of his career. He struck out five straight Braves between the 3rd and 4th innings and escaped the 5th after giving up four hits but only one run, and leaving with the game tied 3-3.
The Giants broke things open in the top of the 6th thanks to Osleivis Basabe and a trio of rookies. Basabe led off the inning with his 4th home run of the season, bouncing it off the top of the center field wall just above the Papa John’s sign, which should probably earn him some free terrible pizza, right?
Losing pitcher Bryce Elder (8-8) proceeded to give up singles to Andrew Knizner and Furman, leaving the game with runners on second and third and one out. Furman is quite small at 5-foot-8 and 173 pounds, but in the minors, all he did was hit for average and get on base, so it shouldn’t be a huge surprise he’s finally getting a few hits in the majors.
Elder gave up eight hits and walked three, showing roughly the same level of command as Greg Maddux did with his ceremonial first pitch in Chicago this weekend.
The Braves brought in lefty Dylan Lee to face Drew Gilbert, but they only played into mad genius Tony Vitello’s hands with the gambit. He pinch-hit Turner Hill, who delivered a two-run double to right, then scored on rookie Bryce Eldridge’s RBI single with a gorgeous head-first slide.
A Turner succeeding in Atlanta? Well I’ll be. Hill has nine hits this season and five of them are doubles. He’s 2-for-4 with two walks off lefties this season, after an unsuccessful attempt to bunt for a hit in the 8th.
He may have been inspired by Cox, who surprised the Braves with a two-out bunt single in the 5th inning to score a hustling Rafael Devers, pushing the ball into a huge gap in the overshifted infield.
Cox hit it soft for one run and hit it hard for another, launching his 4th home run of the season in the top of the 9th. He’s slugging .556 on the season and hasn’t set foot on a scooter once!
Devers scored two runs and walked twice, blasting a massive first-inning home run that just barely stayed fair. It was the 30th homer of the season for Devers, the 5th time in his career he’s hit the 30-dinger mark. The Giants hadn’t had anyone hit 30 homers in 21 years before Willy Adames did it last year, and now they have had two players do it in consecutive years.
If Devers can go deep three more times this year, he’ll have one of the top 50 home run seasons in franchise history, joining a seven-way tie with Barry and Bobby Bonds, Hall of famers Jeff Kent and Mel Ott, Hall of Very Gooder Matt Williams, and Jim Ray Hart.
Next up is the Pittsburgh Pirates and a duel between Paul Skenes and Logan Webb. The marketing department will be excited that the Giants are starting a Blade and a Tugboat back-to-back Wednesday and Thursday and fans will be excited that the broadcast will almost certainly show a clip of Brandon Crawford’s grand slam from the 2014 wild card game, still perhaps the fastest we’ve ever heard a baseball crowd go from roaring to silent.
The only downside is that the loss put the Braves a half-game behind the Los Angeles Dodgers in the race for the No. 2 seed in the National League and its accompanying bye. But that’s what they get for not approaching Nate Furman and Jonah Cox with appropriate respect.
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