The Braves are on a heater again, and Wednesday night at Truist Park gave them another clean snapshot of why. Atlanta beat the Marlins 4-1, stretched its winning streak to a season-high seven games, and moved into the No. 2 spot in MLB by record.
That’s a pretty sharp turn from where this club sat before the All-Star break, when it had dropped 19 of its previous 28 games. The Trade Deadline came and went without Atlanta landing a frontline starting pitcher, which could matter down the road in October. For now, though, the Braves are stacking wins and looking very much like a team that has found its footing.
Austin Riley and Bryce Elder were at the center of it.
Riley delivered the big swing early, driving in two runs with a double off Eury Perez in the second inning. The ball jumped off his bat at 109.5 mph, a good sign for a hitter who has been driving the ball much better lately than he did in the first half. Elder, meanwhile, took complete control on the mound, allowing one hit and one run across seven innings.
Atlanta improved to 69-45 and has now won 14 of 19 since the break. Its .605 winning percentage trails only the Brewers (.619, 70-43) and sits just ahead of the Dodgers (.600, 69-46).
Riley’s production has been one of the biggest reasons the Braves have looked different since the break. He still hasn’t caught fire the way he did during his three straight 30-homer seasons from 2021-23, but he has clearly moved past the rough first half that left him hitting .207 with a .617 OPS.
Since the start of the second half, Riley is batting .303 with a .897 OPS. He has also been striking the ball harder, with a 95.5 mph average exit velocity since the break after posting a 90.5 mph mark in the season’s first half.
The power surge hasn’t fully arrived yet. Riley has hit only four homers since the break, and two of them came against Nathan Eovaldi on July 19. Even so, the overall trend is pointing the right way.
Elder’s turnaround has been just as important. The right-hander was in command from the start and kept the Marlins hitless until Jakob Marsee doubled before Joe Mack’s RBI groundout in the fifth. That was the only real blemish on an otherwise crisp outing.
The broader numbers tell the story of how far Elder has come. He carried a 2.71 ERA over a 21-start stretch that began Aug. 24, 2025 and ran through his June 7 start against the Pirates, ranking ninth among all MLB starters over that span.
Then came a rough patch: an 11.00 ERA over his final four starts before the break. Since then, he has bounced back with a 1.50 ERA, allowing four earned runs in 24 innings over four starts.
If the postseason began tomorrow, Atlanta could feel good about handing Elder the ball for a Game 2 start.
There was also more positive work from Drake Baldwin, whose early return from the injured list didn’t go smoothly. When he came back on June 16, he struggled badly and hit .079, going 5-for-63 in his first 16 games back. But Wednesday brought another two-hit night, continuing a recent run that has seen him hit .338 since the break.
The Braves have been through the messy stretch. Right now, they look like a team that has left it behind.
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