When Dominic Smith signed a minor league deal with the Atlanta Braves in mid-February, it was hard envisioning him having much of a role with the team.
After all, Smith’s best defensive position is first base and the Braves feature Matt Olson at that spot, and Olson hasn’t missed a single game in four-plus seasons with the team. He has failed to start a game just once, back in 2022.
But Smith is finding ways to contribute and quickly impressing the organization as Atlanta enters the second contest of a four-game series against the Arizona Diamondbacks on Friday night in Phoenix.
Smith homered and scored twice as the Braves routed the Diamondbacks 17-2 in Thursday’s series opener. It was the most runs Atlanta has ever scored in Phoenix, topping a 14-0 victory on July 29, 2007.
Smith, 30, is batting .375 with two homers and five RBIs in five appearances – four at designated hitter and one in the outfield.
Of course, Smith etched himself into baseball history by hitting a walk-off grand slam in a 6-2 win against the Kansas City Royals last Saturday. That made him the first player to ever end a game in such a fashion in his team debut.
Smith will continue to get starts at designated hitter due to the season-long suspension of Jurickson Profar, who was disciplined for a positive test of performance-enhancing drugs for the second time in his career.
Suddenly, lots of at-bats were available.
“When the suspension happened, I said there would be an opportunity for some guys, and guys are going to step up and shine and he’s certainly doing that,” Braves manager Walt Weiss said after Thursday’s one-sided affair. “Dom is taking advantage of the opportunity and we always talk about him giving a professional at-bat. He’s showing off some power too.”
The Braves are Smith’s sixth team and fifth in the past four seasons. Thursday’s homer was his 71st in 761 career games.
Olson also had a big game Thursday by going 3-for-5 with a homer, two doubles, three RBIs and three runs.
Mauricio Dubon and Jorge Mateo also went deep as Atlanta won for the fifth time in seven games this season.
Arizona had a three-game winning streak halted and the game got away when it allowed eight runs in the fifth inning.
“It’s about execution, that’s the bottom line,” Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said. “If you don’t execute, you’re going to have games like this.”
Jordan Lawlar slugged his first career homer for Arizona but later was hit by a pitch on his right wrist in the bottom of the seventh and exited at the end of that inning.
X-rays were negative, and Lovullo said Lawlar will undergo a CT scan on Friday.
Lawlar preferred talking about homer No. 1.
“It didn’t really feel like anything coming off the bat,” Lawlar said. “… I ran around the bases and got the silent treatment in the dugout. That was pretty cool.”
Left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez (0-0, 0.00 ERA) will make his second start of the season for the Diamondbacks.
He received a no-decision in his first turn when he was charged with one unearned run and four hits in five-plus innings against the Los Angeles Dodgers last Saturday.
Rodriguez, who turns 33 on Tuesday, is 1-0 with a 5.59 ERA in two career starts against Atlanta.
Right-hander Grant Holmes (0-1, 5.40) gave up three runs and five runs over five innings in a Atlanta’s loss to the Kansas City Royals on Sunday.
Holmes, 30, has a 6.08 ERA in four appearances (two starts) against Arizona. Both starts occurred last season when he gave up nine runs in nine overall innings.
–Field Level Media
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