Ozzie Albies, Chris Sale Rise on Historic Leaderboards
The Braves opened the season with a win on Opening Day. Ozzie Albies made his ninth straight Opening Day start at second base.
That start broke a tie with Glenn Hubbard for the franchise record. Albies also hit a solo home run in the first inning.
Ozzie Albies, Chris Sale Rise on Historic Leaderboards.
Albies’ franchise milestones
Albies’ first-inning homer moved him into an exclusive Opening Day club. He now has three or more career Opening Day homers.
Two hits on the night moved him past Joe Torre into 23rd place in Braves hits history. He sits nine games away from passing Torre for 27th in games played. Albies is tied with Johnny Logan for 20th in franchise runs scored.
Opening Day home run company
- Eddie Mathews — 7 homers
- Joe Torre — 4 homers
- Andruw Jones — 3 homers
- Fred McGriff — 3 homers
- Brian McCann — 3 homers
- Dale Murphy — 3 homers
- Freddie Freeman — 3 homers
- Ozzie Albies — 3+ homers
Hat-tip to Filmogaz.com’s Mark Bowman for compiling that list.
Chris Sale’s leaderboard climb
Left-hander Chris Sale delivered six shutout innings on Opening Day. He struck out six batters in the start.
Those strikeouts pushed his career total to 2,585. That mark moved him past Warren Spahn into 30th place on the all-time strikeout list.
Sale is 23 strikeouts away from passing Tom Glavine on that leaderboard.
Third-base Opening Day streaks
Austin Riley started his seventh consecutive Opening Day at third base. That ties him with Chipper Jones and Bob Horner for a seven-start streak at the position in Atlanta.
That seven-start run is the longest for a third baseman while exclusively playing in Atlanta. Eddie Mathews had a 15-opening streak at third base, but only the final year occurred in Atlanta.
If Riley starts the next three seasons at third on Opening Day, he will become the first third baseman in franchise history to hold the position for every year across a full decade.
