How nice does it feels to win on Opening Day? Winning > Losing.
When Braves second baseman Ozzie Albies took the sphere to start out the sport, his ninth consecutive Opening Day begin at second base in his profession with the Braves, he broke a tie with Glenn Hubbard for essentially the most consecutive begins at second base in franchise historical past. (The final Braves participant to start out on Opening Day at second base? None apart from “Dat Dude BP”, Brandon Phillips [AKA Mr. Jade Cargill].)
Albies wasn’t performed with some notable Braves historical moments.
When he put the Braves on the board with a solo residence run within the backside of the primary inning, he turned eighth Brave all-time to file three or extra profession residence runs on Opening Day.
That listing is a who’s who of organizational legends: MLB and Braves Hall of Famers Eddie Mathews (7), Joe Torre (4), Andruw Jones (3) and Fred McGriff (3) in addition to Braves Hall of Famers Brian McCann (3) and Dale Murphy (3). Future both-of-those-things Freddie Freeman additionally hit three with the Braves. (Hat-tip to MLB.com’s Mark Bowman for that info).
The two hits Albies had on the evening additionally moved him previous Torre into twenty third in hits all-time in Braves franchise historical past. He is 9 video games away from passing Torre for twenty seventh in video games performed with the Braves. He’s additionally now tied with Johnny Logan for twentieth for runs scored in franchise historical past.
Braves left-handed beginning pitcher Chris Sale tossed six shutout innings on the best way to selecting up the win on Opening Day, ringing up six batters alongside the best way. Those strikeouts introduced his profession complete to 2,585 and moved him previous Braves legend and inside circle Hall of Fame left-hander Warren Spahn to thirtieth place in MLB historical past.
Sale is 23 strikeouts away from passing one other Hall of Fame left-hander, and former Brave pitcher, Tom Glavine.
One final Opening Day be aware, it was Austin Riley’s seventh-consecutive begin at third base on Opening Day. That ties him with Chipper Jones and Bob Horner who each began seven consecutive occasions on Opening Day at third base for the Braves. That is the longest streak for a third-baseman whereas solely in Atlanta. A reminder, Chipper Jones’s total Opening Day begin streak included three seasons because the crew’s beginning left fielder.
Mathews began 15-consecutive occasions on Opening Day at third base with the Braves, however solely the ultimate 12 months of his streak occurred after the crew moved to Atlanta.
If Riley can begin the subsequent three season at third base on Opening Day with Atlanta, he would grow to be the primary third baseman in franchise historical past to be the one starter on the place for yearly in a decade.
