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          Real or not? Braves' Charlie Culberson a true drama king

          • David Shoenfield
          May 28, 2018, 10:09 PM ET

          Last we saw of Charlie Culberson, he hit a home run for the Dodgers in the 11th inning of Game 2 of the World Series and drew some flak from the Astros for a celebrating a little too much considering the blast still left the Dodgers down a run.

          Well, Culberson can celebrate this one:

          The walk-off 4-3 win for the Braves in the first game of a doubleheader was a dagger to the Mets after Devin Mesoraco had slammed a go-ahead home run in the top of the ninth. In the process, the Braves won a game started by New York's Jacob deGrom, one of the hottest pitchers going, improved to 6-1 against the Mets in 2018 and kept their slim lead in the National League East. In fact, Atlanta won games started by Chris Sale and deGrom on back-to-back days.

          Here's a remarkable fact about Culberson: He has just seven career home runs in the regular season and three of them have been walk-off shots. He hit the walk-off home run for the Dodgers in the 10th inning in Vin Scully's final game in 2016. And hit one for the Rockies -- against the Mets -- in 2014; that one, like Monday's, was a two-run, pinch-hit job. To put Culberson's heroics in perspective, Norm Cash hit 377 home runs without hitting a walk-off homer, and Jose Bautista is the active leader with 333 home runs without a walk-off (via Elias).

          In fact, Culberson's two pinch-hit, walk-off home runs when trailing ties a major league record -- Jason Giambi, Olmedo Saenz, Kirk Gibson, Roger Freed and Marv Throneberry also did it (although Gibson's two doesn't include his famous home run off Dennis Eckersley in the World Series).

          This game is what I would call a "depth" win for the Braves, the type of game that first-place teams find a way to win at times throughout the season. Culberson came off the bench for his home run. Max Fried made his first start of 2018 and kept the game close with two runs allowed over five innings. Jesse Biddle tossed two scoreless innings in relief.

          The Braves' depth will be tested with Ronald Acuna Jr. landing on the disabled list with a mild ACL sprain in his left knee that he injured when he jammed his leg after running past first base to beat out a grounder on Sunday in Boston. The injury initially looked like a serious one after replays showed a bad twist when his foot planted in the dirt. With Acuna out, Preston Tucker should get the majority of time in left field, Culberson has played a few innings out there, and Dustin Peterson was called up to fill out the roster.

          Depth is a supposed of weakness of the Braves -- in both position players and the bullpen. This is a big week, as they host the Mets, then the Nationals for four, so we'll see how much more that depth comes into play.

          Rizzo's controversial slide: So this happened in the Cubs' 7-0 win over the Pirates:

          Jesse Rogers has the full aftermath here, with Pirates manager Clint Hurdle calling it "open season" on catchers. Joe Maddon called it a "perfect play" by Rizzo. The official ruling was that it was a clean slide. I'd agree with many on Twitter who called it a dirty play, as catcher Elias Diaz is most exposed on that kind of play. (Not to mention, it was 3-0 and the eighth inning at the time.)

          While Diaz ended up staying in the game, it reminded me of a spring training play from years ago, when Bill Spiers of the Brewers took out Seattle catcher Dave Valle, with Valle getting severely injured on the play. That slide led to a couple of years of bad blood between the Mariners and Brewers, leading to a classic all-time brawl:

          The point: There's a good chance the Pirates go after the Cubs over this, given the nature of the play and NL Central rivalry. We all know Maddon wouldn't like it if this happened to his team and would almost certainly retaliate. Rizzo should be expecting something a tad bit inside on Tuesday.

          Underrated Gio Gonzalez spins a gem: Speaking of the Nationals, where would they be without Gio Gonzalez, who tossed 7⅔ scoreless innings in a 7-0 win over the Orioles. He improved to 6-2 with a 2.10 ERA, ranking third in the NL in ERA. Gonzalez quietly had a superb 2017, going 15-9 with a 2.96 ERA, although the season was kind of ignored because (A) Max Scherzer won the Cy Young Award, (B) Stephen Strasburg was the best pitcher in the league over the final two months and (C) Gonzalez's peripherals weren't quite as impressive as his ERA.

          You know, Gonzalez has had a vastly underrated career. One thing I like to say is half of being a successful major league pitcher is just staying healthy. Gonzalez has done that, making at least 27 starts in each season since 2010. His ERA has been better than league average in each of those seasons, except 2016, and his career ERA+ is 113 -- better than that of Nolan Ryan (112), Jake Peavy (110), Chris Archer (106) and Jack Morris (105), to name a few random guys. Gonzalez has 123 wins and has finished in the top 10 in his league in ERA four times (not including 2018). He has been very good, and he could be headed to his third All-Star Game.

          More Mariners magic: The Mariners have started 4-0 on a 10-game homestand after beating the Rangers 2-1:

          The bullpen has a 0.33 ERA in the past 10 games, with 30 strikeouts and two walks in 27⅓ innings. The pen is a little deeper after Jerry Dipoto acquired Alex Colome (along with Denard Span) from the Rays for minor league pitchers Andrew Moore and Tommy Romero. Colome saved Sunday's win to give Edwin Diaz a break, then pitched a scoreless eighth on Monday.

          Marco Gonzales has been huge, stepping up to become the No. 2 starter behind James Paxton. He's 4-1 with a 2.08 ERA over his past seven starts, working with a four-pitch repertoire (fastball, sinker, curveball, changeup) that doesn't jump off the TV screen but gets the job done with a lot of weak contact, at least over the past month.

          The Mariners are 16-8 in one-run games, and nine of their past 11 wins have come by one run. Nelson Cruz and Kyle Seager, two guys they need to step up after slow starts, delivered two-out RBI hits in the sixth inning Monday. The offense has scuffled during this winning streak, but if Cruz and Seager can heat up and Span can get on base, there's the hope they can survive minus Robinson Cano.

          The Man: Another day, another dominant outing for Justin Verlander: 6⅔ innings, one run, five strikeouts and a 5-1 win over the Yankees. He also tipped his cap to Yankees fans who booed him as he left the game:

          "Just having fun," Verlander said. "Yankees fans having fun with me, so I decided to have some fun back."

          Everything is fun when you have a 1.11 ERA.