Photo by Matthew Grimes Jr./Atlanta Braves/Getty Images News and notes from the Braves’ come from behind win over the Guardians Sunday. ATLANTA — Austin Riley’s single in the 10th inning helped the Atlanta Braves finish off a 7-2 homestand with a 4-3 win over the Cleveland Guardians. The Braves have now won five-straight series and are 19-7 on the season. Despite Riley’s heroics, the homestand was a difficult stretch for the middle of the Braves order. Riley finished with two hits Sunday, including the game winner, but was just 4-for-33 during the homestand. Brian Snitker said that he was happy to see Riley finally get some results after having some good at-bats with nothing to show for it. That kid’s been hitting the ball so good lately. He’s had two or three balls that I think in another month would’ve been homers,” Snitker said of Riley. “He’s making good contact. That’s the thing, he’s just gotta stay with himself like he always does. He always gives himself a chance. I was really happy for him to get that one right there.” Riley said that it was good to finally see some good results, especially against a tough arm like Cleveland’s Emmanuel Clase. “No doubt. Just gotta keep staying after it and trying to put up good at bats. It was nice to come through for the team,” Riley said. “I’ve been through it before, so I know what it feels like,” Riley added on his struggles. “Especially when things aren’t going your way It’s all part of the mental game. You just gotta continue to work and know that the work that you are doing is good.” Riley wasn’t the only one that had a bit of a breakthrough in the game. Matt Olson launched a ball that left the bat at 106.6 mph in the fourth inning, but watched it settle into Guardians’ center fielder Tyler Freeman’s glove just shy of the warning track. Olson came through though in the eighth inning with a broken bat single that had an exit velocity of 59.3 mph that scored Ozzie Albies to tie the game. Olson finished Sunday’s game 1-for-4 and was just 3-for-30 on the homestand. “That’s just the kind of thing that gets you going too,” Snitker said of Olson’s game-tying hit. “Those guys, they never quit. They never stop working. They never stop believing. They understand that this is all part of it. This game is not easy, and they make it look easy. It’s not.” Bryce Elder gives the Braves a chance Bryce Elder allowed four hits and two runs over 5 1/3 innings in his second start of the season Sunday. After not walking anyone in his season debut against the Marlins, Elder walked four Sunday including three in the third inning that led to the Guardians’ first run. Just when the game looked like it was about to spiral, Elder struck out Josh Naylor and then got David Fry to ground out on a nice play by Orlando Arcia at shortstop thus limiting the damage to just one run. “It was good damage control. It felt like we were down by about six runs,” Snitker said of Elder. The Guardians plated their second run in the fifth inning when Brayan Rocchio singled to lead off the inning. Rocchio stole second and then ultimately scored on a pair of wild pitches. Elder spiked his changeup repeatedly in the inning, but he didn’t get any help from Chadwick Tromp who tried to backhand it instead of blocking it with Rocchio at third base. Elder said after the game that he felt like he was a little too slow to adjust in the inning, but again he retired Jose Ramirez and Naylor to keep the game from getting away. “That’s the thing about Bryce, he never stops pitching,” Snitker said. “He did it all last year. He just keeps making his pitches and doesn’t get blown away by the whole thing. He keeps his composure and did a good job. He was erratic, but I’ll take that.” Braves accessed strike to start 10th inning The Braves were assessed a strike to start the 10th inning when Ronald Acuña Jr. was slow to take his place at second base as the ghost runner. This was the second instance on the homestand where Acuña was slow to take the field as the runner in the 10th inning. Wednesday against the Marlins, the game was slightly delayed when Acuña couldn’t find his helmet. He eventually had to use Orlando Arcia’s and then scored on Michael Harris’ walk-off hit. Atlanta wasn’t assessed a penalty in that game. Sunday, Acuña was standing in the dugout as Emmanuel Clase finished his warmup tosses and the ball was thrown down to second. The umpires came together before the first pitch could be made and assessed a strike to Ozzie Albies to start the inning. Albies ended up striking out, but Riley followed with the game-winning hit. Snitker said after the game that it was something that they have never addressed with the team, but that they will be more aware of it from now on. “No, I don’t think, I don’t know. The other day, he couldn’t find his helmet,” Snitker answered when asked if Acuña forgot he was supposed to be the runner at second. “We just gotta be more aware of that. We never addressed it with the guys. That’s my fault. We’ve always just went out there to start the inning. Most of the time you go out there, the guys are stopping the clock. It’s just a learning experience right there, because this bullpen’s tough enough without going in the hole to one of these guys. Our team will learn from that, to be more aware of that situation. It happened the other night and they didn’t do anything. So, I just figured, well, maybe it’s not a thing.”

Photo by Nic Antaya/Getty Images The Falcons had a draft class that flew in the face of expectations, and the grades reflect that. You can’t properly grade an NFL Draft, if that’s something you’re even interested in doing, until two, three, or even four years after it happens. Unless a class is wildly and immediately successful or a spectacular failure right out of the gate, grades are just a reflection of how fans, analysts, and the like feel in the immediate aftermath of the draft. Often, those grades are reflective of how a team does versus expectations. By that metric, the Falcons were disappointing. I’ll write more about this later, but few teams strayed further from consensus than Atlanta, and that led to most of their picks being considered reaches by analysts. The grades you’re going to see below are reflective of that; in the case of fans here at The Falcoholic, they’re perhaps reflective of that and partially based on disappointment with the players the team didn’t pick, as well as the top ten quarterback and the second round trade up. Let’s get to them, so we can re-visit this a few years down the line to shake our heads or nod. I’ll add to the list as new grades come in today. The Falcoholic’s readers: C (but you can still vote!) Pro Football Focus: C- For a pick-by-pick writeup, visit their site. Sports Illustrated: A Matt Verderame: Call me crazy, but I’m a huge fan of the Penix pick. The quarterback landscape could be great in two years. It could be barren. But if the Falcons are truly building toward the future, why not make the inevitable transition easy. I think there’s a lot of pro-Kirk Cousins sentiment out there, but Cousins will be 36 in August and is coming off an Achilles injury. He has also never reached a conference title game, so it was time to explore all options. Sporting News: C- Vinny Iyer: GM Terry Fontenot got plenty of heat from every direction for taking Penix in the top 10 after the team committed big money to Kirk Cousins. Penix’s big arm is a good fit in the new passing offense, but the Falcons left a lot of elite, impact talent on the board as part of the opportunity cost. Not surprisingly, they chased that misstep by going defense-heavy for new coach Raheem Morris. McClellan and Washington were real offensive reaches on Day 3. Washington Post: D Mark Maske: It’s not that Michael Penix Jr. is not an excellent QB prospect, arguably worthy of being the No. 8 overall pick. He is. It’s that the Falcons gave Kirk Cousins a four-year, $180 million deal in free agency, a move indicative of an attempt to be an immediate contender. The Falcons needed to add an excellent player at another position to improve Cousins’s chances — and theirs — of succeeding. There was no rush to put his eventual successor in place before he even played his first game for the team. The rule in the NFL is that if you don’t have a franchise QB, you need to do all that you can to try to get one. But you don’t need to do all that you can to try to get two. Associated Press: C- Rob Maaddi: QB Michael Penix Jr. at No. 8 was the most stunning pick of the draft because Kirk Cousins just received $100 million guaranteed. DL Ruke Orhorhor (35) and DE Bralen Trice (74) bolster the defense. Reached on some of their Day 3 picks after starting strong with DL Brandon Dorlus in the fourth round.

Photo by Brandon Sloter/Image Of Sport/Getty Images The Falcons finalized their 2024 NFL Draft class with five picks on Day 3, finishing with a defensive emphasis after a controversial QB pick at the top. Host Kevin Knight is here to break down all the selections and the draft as a whole. Fellow Falcoholics, welcome to another episode of the Dirty Birds and Brews podcast! The Atlanta Falcons finalized their 2024 NFL Draft class with five picks on Day 3, finishing with a defensive emphasis after a controversial QB pick at the top. Host Kevin Knight is here to break down all the selections and the draft as a whole, starting with the pick of Michael Penix Jr., the future-focused selections on the defensive line, and some late additions to the offense. You can also listen to all of our video shows in an audio-only podcast format, available on all your favorite podcast platforms or by using the player below. If you’re interested in supporting the show, check out our Patreon page to unlock access to exclusive perks including Patron Q&A sessions, Discord perks, live shout-outs and more! Be sure to check out the new community Discord server here! Come chat with your fellow Falcons fans about the show, the team, the NFL draft, and more. You can watch the show here on The Falcoholic, but we recommend watching on YouTube for the best experience—including full 1080p HD video and access to the live Q&A in the chat. You can also access the show using your smart TV or device using the YouTube app for the real big-screen experience! We hope you enjoy the show! If you have comments, we’d love to hear them. Send them to us on Twitter (@FalcoholicLive), leave them below, or e-mail the show at falcoholiclive@gmail.com. Thanks for watching!

Photo by David J. Griffin/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images Tanner Bibee and Charlie Morton are the starting pitchers, and you can read more about this matchup in the game preview here. The Braves’ lineup is as expected with a few tweaks for Cleveland’s, which you can see here. Saturday’s game is at 7:20 PM ET and can be watched on Bally Sports South. Join us and discuss today’s game below!