Atlanta Braves: The unsung hero of shined in game one

Travis d’Arnaud has been overshadowed by other Atlanta Braves stars, but he showed his worth in game one.

Interestingly enough, Travis d’Arnaud has been the cleanup hitter most of the time for the Atlanta Braves during the regular season and postseason when he is manning the backstop.

Despite all the dangerous options Brian Snitker, Braves manager,  has, he has consistently slotted the 31-year old catcher fourth in the order.

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d’Arnaud was a part of the scary situation the Braves had to deal with at the beginning of the season where he and Tyler Flowers showed symptoms of the coronavirus right before opening day. So to start the season, the Braves were without the two starting catchers who were to platoon during 2020.

After d’Arnaud’s return, he separated himself from Tyler Flowers relatively soon and became the lead starting catcher.

He played 44 out of the 60 regular-season games, while Flowers played in 22 games.

Both of the veteran catchers are good defensively, particularly Flowers. Flowers is a career .237 hitter while d’Arnaud is a career .253 hitter.

d’Arnaud has a little more history of consistent hitting compared to Flowers who has made his career on defense.

In 2020, Flowers and d’Arnaud are back to back on pitch framing ranks, ranked 24 and 25.

While d’Arnaud received most of the catching duties, he continued to gain the trust of Snitker and finished with a surprising .321 batting average, with 34 RBIs and nine home runs.

He was a key part of the Atlanta offense and was overshadowed by the young Ronald Acuna Jr., Marcell Ozuna, and Freddie Freeman who is a candidate for the MVP Award.

And yet again, d’Arnaud has been the cleanup hitter in the postseason.

Up until game one of the NLDS between the Marlins and Braves, d’Arnaud struggled to make an impact in the NL Wild Card series against the Reds.

He went 2 for 9 with four strikeouts to start the postseason.

Against the Marlins, the Atlanta Braves proved his worth as the cleanup hitter.

Game one of the NLDS was a really fun game to watch until the Braves put up a six-run inning in the bottom of the seventh inning. The Marlins put up a fight but the Braves prevailed.

The Marlins put up a three-spot in the top of the third against Max Fried, ultimately knocking him out of the game early in the next inning.

But, the Braves countered with an Ozuna double, scoring Acuna Jr. After that, d’Arnaud came up to the plate and scored Ozuna after hitting a double on a 2-1 count.

Later in the game, the Braves still down 4-3, Ozuna tied the game on a single in the seventh inning.

d’Arnaud followed Ozuna and delivered just like in the third inning. This time, he took a 2-0 slider over the center-field wall.

d’Arnaud’s home run gave the Braves the lead and they never looked back. The Braves took game one over the Marlins 9-5.

The starting catcher has been a nice surprise for the Braves and he will continue to be an important part of the Braves’ postseason run for his defense, and his hot bat.

The Braves will have Ian Anderson on the mound against Pablo Lopez. Look for another fun game between the “Bottom Feeder” Marlins and the star-studded Braves starting at 2:08 Eastern Time.