Allan Winans was unsuccessful in his bid to exact more revenge against the team that didn’t want him. However, it wasn’t all bad for the Braves, who set a franchise record while suffering a 10-4 loss to the Mets on Monday night at Truist Park.
Marcell Ozuna added to the success of his rebound season as he tallied his third multi-homer performance during the season. His solo shot in the second gave the Braves five players with 25-plus homers for the first time in franchise history.
Ozuna’s leadoff homer in the fourth moved Atlanta closer to joining the 2019 Twins as the only team having five players with 30-plus homers.
Winans allowed seven earned runs over just 4 1/3 innings. He surrendered homers to DJ Stewart and Rafael Ortega during a three-run second inning while giving five straight batters to reach safely with one out in New York’s four-run fifth.
While the results weren’t pretty, bringing Winans up from Triple-A Gwinnett to make this start could help the Braves, who benefited from Collin McHugh tossing 3 1/3 scoreless innings at the end of this game.
By utilizing Winans on Monday, the Braves could create an extra day of rest for each of their primary starters (Max Fried, Spencer Strider, Charlie Morton, and Bryce Elder) during this current turn through the rotation.
If the Braves go with Winans or call somebody up from Gwinnett to start on Sunday in San Francisco, each of the four primary starters would also get an extra day of rest heading into their second start of the road trip, which will also include stops in Denver and Los Angeles.
Michael Harris II’s two-run double in the third provided a brief lead for Winans. The Braves’ only other runs came due to the home runs hit by Ozuna, who has batted .281 with 24 homers and a .892 OPS since the start of May. He exited April hitting .085 with a .397 OPS.
Matt Olson (43), Austin Riley (29), Ozzie Albies (28), Ronald Acuña Jr. (28), and Ozuna (26) are the Braves who have already reached the 25-homer mark. There’s a chance Sean Murphy (20) and reigning National League Player of the Week Eddie Rosario (19) could end up; reaching this mark.
The 2003 Red Sox (Nomar Garciaparra, Jason Varitek, David Ortiz, Kevin Millar, Trot Nixon, and Manny Ramirez) and the 2019 Twins (C.J. Cron, Max Kepler, Mitch Garver, Nelson Cruz, Miguel Sanó, and Rosario) are the only teams to have six players with 25-plus homers. No team has ever had seven players reach this mark in the same season.
Olson, Riley, Albies, Acuña, and Ozuna could easily reach 30 homers before the end of the season. The 2019 Twins (Kepler, Garver, Cruz, Sanó, and Rosario) are the only team whose five players reach this mark in the same season.
That 2019 Minnesota team set the MLB season record with 307 homers. Atlanta is on pace to hit 309.
