Drake Baldwin Earning More At-Bats, Leads Braves Back to .500 Mark

The Atlanta Braves did it. After multiple failed attempts, the Braves moved to the .500 mark for the first time this season thanks to a 5-2 victory against the Washington Nationals on Tuesday night.

But maybe just as important as the win, the Braves have a rookie that's proving to be a new spark plug for the slumping Atlanta lineup.

Baldwin led the Braves on Tuesday night, going 3-for-4 with a two-run homer and three runs scored. The rookie's bomb tied the game at two in the fourth inning.

At the time, the Braves had just three singles and trailed 2-0. Baldwin's blast appeared to turn the contest completely in Atlanta's favor.

While facing a full count, Baldwin took advantage of a hanging slider from former Braves starting pitcher Michael Soroka.

"With Soroka, it's tough because he has that four-seamer at the top, so you can't really only sit slider or even be looking slider because that four-seamer will beat you. [But] I just tried to shorten up," Baldwin said. "It wasn't that bad of a pitch, I mean, it was kind of back door there, and kind of got me going over the plate, and you saw it pop a little bit, but just tried to throw the barrel at it."

The rookie catcher added a single in the sixth and double in the eighth. Baldwin scored runs after both hits.

Thanks to Baldwin, the Braves not only won but ended a streak of seven consecutive games decided by one run. Tuesday was also the first time since April 29 the Braves tallied at least five runs in a nine-inning game.

Tuesday was Baldwin's first three-hit game of his young MLB career, but the rookie has been hitting a lot better since his slow start to the season. In May, Baldwin is now 10-for-18 (.556) with four extra-base hits in eight games.

Some of those at-bats haven't exactly been easy either, as the Braves have used Baldwin in key pinch hitting situations against high-leverage relievers.

In his last four starts, Baldwin is 8-for-12 (.667) with two home runs and five RBI.

Clearly, Baldwin has settled into his role as platoon catcher with Sean Murphy. Baldwin was 1-for-18 to begin the season while playing every day with Murphy sidelined because of a rib injury. But since Murphy's return, Baldwin is batting well over .400 (19-for-44, which is good for a .432 average).

What's more, the Braves are getting plenty of production from Murphy as well. Murphy has seven home runs and leads the team with a .505 slugging percentage.

But after Tuesday, it could be awfully tempting for manager Brian Snitker to find Baldwin more at-bats. In the middle of that game Tuesday night, it appeared like Atlanta was headed for another disappointing offensive night and perhaps another drop to two games below .500.

Instead, Baldwin helped the Braves become just the fifth team in history to reach .500 after starting a season 0-7.

"Huge," Baldwin said when asked about the significance of reaching .500. "Since that 0-7 streak, I think we've been, I don't know what the exact numbers are, but it seems like we started to get going facing tough teams early in the year.

"But getting back to .500, we're right back in it. Continue to do what we're doing, and I think we'll be in a good spot."