Sunburst Awards 2024: Atlanta Braves games 70-72

The “Sunburst Awards” are a series-by-series evaluation of player performance, where four different awards are given after each series: Offensive Player of the Series, Defensive Player of the Series, Pitcher of the Series and Highlight Play of the Series. . This edition will cover the 22nd series of the season, where the Tampa Bay Rays faced the Chicago Cubs from June 11-13, a three-game series at Tropicana Field.

The Rays look to build momentum against Atlanta after a series win over Chicago.

Game 1: Rays – 3 Braves – 7 (recap)

Game 2: Rays – 2 Braves – 9 (recap)

Game 3: Rays – 8 Braves – 6 (recap)

Offensive Sunburst Award: José Siri

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Siri had a nice weekend streak in Atlanta, racking up five, four runs, an RBI and a walk. The eccentric outfielder gave us more fun celebrations with his two-run homer in the ninth inning of Game 3 to give the Rays an 8-6 lead.

The 28-year-old now has 10 Sunburst Awards, leading the ball club by a wide margin.

Pitching Sunburst Award: Kevin Kelly? I guess?

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It wasn’t a particularly impressive performance on the mound for the Rays, but Kelly had two good performances in games one and three of this series, combining for 1 ¹⁄₃ innings allowing no runs or hits, with a strikeout to go along with it.

It’s not much, but considering he won the award this weekend, it should tell you how terrible the pitching has been in Atlanta.

Defensive Sunburst Award: Richie Palacios

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Palacios wins this edition’s Defensive Sunburst with his impressive surge in the sixth inning of Game 2.

What seemed like another big hit in a tough-to-watch second match ended up turning into Palacios scaling the wall and flashing his leather with an impressive hold to end the round.

Palacios now has five Sunbursts this season, the most on the Rays in that category.

Highlight Sunburst Award: Ben Rortvedt

Photo by Todd Kirkland/Getty Images

Rortvedt hits his first Highlight Sunburst with his electric grand slam to give the Rays the lead in Game 3.

His 359-footer just found its way down the right field line, leading to an 8-6 victory.

Conclusion

The Rays continue this series with another road matchup, heading north to take on the Minnesota Twins for a three-game series beginning Tuesday at 7:40 a.m.