Matt Olson’s ability to overcome tough times, an interesting Morton-Sale stat

On Friday, Olson homered for the first time since April 7. He went 26 days without a home run – the longest home run streak of his career.

Did it seem so long?

“That seemed like a pretty long time,” Olson said with a smile, before reiterating it. “It seemed quite a long time to me.”

Then he added: “But especially when things aren’t going well, the home run is the last thing on my mind. You try to collect good drummers. For me, when I hit, I go up with a line approach and (when) I hit a few lines, that’s when the home runs follow. It never works the other way around. You never try to hit a home run or hit a line drive – at least for me.

Olson has said in the past that when he struggled, it was because he tended to move backward with his lower back. This time, he said, it was because he was going too far and landing too hard on the front foot.

How did he learn to flush it so well in a game that beats guys? “That’s a good question,” Olson said. He knows it: he has had difficulties before and he will collapse again.

“That’s part of what we’re signing up for,” Olson said. “You have to do what you can to get back on the right path, however long it may take, and continue to build it the right way.”

Olson’s tough times are one of the reasons the Braves offense has had a rough time of late. It is undeniable that the team has not struggled to score in recent weeks.

The Braves are 24-12. And look at the names in the clubhouse.

The Braves are going to go.

“I think everyone can look at the end of the year and see how it goes,” Olson said. “Other than that road trip – Seattle, Dodgers, where we didn’t play well – other than that, we won. You can almost look at the situation here and say we’re playing pretty good baseball and some guys aren’t doing what they usually do. It kind of excites you, when it all comes together, what it could look like.

The difficulties of Michael Harris

Michael Harris II was going through the worst crisis of his career – at least statistically.

He entered the game without a hit in his final 29 at-bats, which was the longest skid of a career that began two years ago.

But on Saturday, Harris led off the third inning with a single. He set the table for Orlando Arcia, who hit a two-run homer to give Atlanta the lead.

Later, he hit a single with a run.

He finished 3-for-3. It was his fourth three-hit game of the season.

Before Saturday, Harris’ last hit was a second-inning single on April 30 in Seattle.

A cool stat involving two teammates

Every day, the Braves media relations department posts the game notes – a collection of nuggets and stats about that night’s game and the team as a whole.

It’s a golden matchup: Charlie Morton and Chris Sale are the first pair of teammates to each start on opening day and also recorded the last in a World Series since Hall of Famer Dennis Eckersley and Cy Young Award winner Bret Saberhagen, who pitched for Boston in 1998 (courtesy of Elias Sports Bureau).

Morton, who started Opening Day for the Rays in 2020, won the final out of the 2017 World Series when he grounded out Corey Seager as Houston won it all. Sale started five opening day games between his White Sox and Red Sox tenures, and he also struck out Manny Machado to win the 2018 World Series for Boston.