Braves Bats Go Scorched Earth Against D-Backs, Claim First Road Win

To say the Atlanta Braves' offense came alive to open their first road trip of the season would be a serious understatement. There wasn't a moment they didn't take their foot off the gas. How last season's first road trip went was clearly on the back of their minds.

They scored more runs on Friday night (17) than they did during that winless seven-game road trip to open last season (14). They matched the number of runs they scored during the first four games of this season combined.

The onslaught culminated in them picking up a big win in Phoenix to improve to 5-2 on the season. That first road win is now in the books.

While the long ball was a key feature of the win, with four swings putting baseballs in the seats, they did their job, as Walt Weiss likes to put it, keeping the line moving. The Braves plated eight runs in the top of the fifth inning. Six of those runs came with two outs, with five batters coming to the plate before the Diamondbacks could retire the side. For good measure, they plated two more runs in the sixth, and five more runs in the ninth inning.

Twelve batters stepped into the box across nine innings for the Braves. Eleven of them recorded at least a hit. Four of them had multi-hit games. The stars did their part. Players came off the bench and delivered. Virtually everything that could have gone right for this team did.

According to OptaSTATS, this is the first time a team has had 11 different players record a hit and an RBI since the Expos did it against the Astros on June 17, 1979.

According to MLB.com's Sarah Langs, this is the fourth time all nine members of the Braves starting lineup have each had an RBI in a game since that stat became official in 1920. It's the first time this has happened since 2001.

Catcher Darke Baldwin made some history as well on the night. He scored a run in his seventh straight game to open the season. This matched a franchise feat achieved most recently by Hank Aaron, back when the team was the Milwaukee Braves, in 1957. Achieving something that a Hall of Famer did when he won an MVP and a World Series is nothing to scoff at.

Baldwin's nine runs and eight RBIs both lead the team this season. He's been the key cog in the offensive machine early in the season.

Offseason and spring training additions to the team continue to play a role in the offense. Mike Yastrzemski, Dominic Smith, Jorge Mateo and Mauricio Dubón combined for six RBIs and seven runs scored.

It's early, but the Braves may have found their old offensive identity again. They lead MLB with 10 home runs and are second behind the Milwaukee Brewers and Houston Astros for runs scored (41 vs two teams with 45). At this pace, they would finish the season with 231 home runs and 948 runs. That second number would have them score one more run than they did in 2023 (947).

The offense has been complemented by strong performances by the pitching staff. They have the second best ERA in MLB (2.00), only trailing the Yankees (1.01), and they have the third best WHIP (0.90) and batting average against (.188).

Obviously, it's a tall task to maintain anything close to the pace that this team is on for a full season. However, the more they take care of business early in the year, the easier it is to absorb and rough patches they go through later.