David Takes On Goliath, But Atlanta Braves Fall 2-1 To LA Dodgers
By Jeff Schafer
Braves Lose 2 of 3 To Dodgers
The Atlanta Braves took on the Los Angeles Dodgers Thursday in a little afternoon matinee. Braves starting pitcher Matt Wisler (David) took on Dodgers starter Clayton Kershaw (Goliath) in game three of this three game series.
Both teams were able to put runs on the board in the 1st inning, but struggled after that. Another run wasn’t scored until the top of the 10th inning.
Top 1st inning
In the top of the 1st inning at Turner Field, Corey Seager reached first base after another throwing error by Adonis Garcia. This marks his fifth error of the season – oh and his sixth comes later on. Wisler was able to get hot-hitting Adrian Gonzalez to strike out, but Seager steals second base. This turned out to be huge because Joc Pederson singled on a soft fly ball to left field and Seager, running on contact because of two outs, scored from second.
Bottom 1st inning
Bottom of the 1st inning, the Braves answered back. Erick Aybar, who has been struggling badly heading into the game, doubled off Kershaw to left field. Next up, Daniel Castro. He hit a ball to left field and Aybar was able to score. Castro tried to stretch a double into a triple, but was thrown out by inches. The play was upheld after the Braves challenged it…after the video played in slow motion and they zoomed in, Castro was out by millimeters.
Braves do tie the game up 1-1, but that’s the first mistake of many on Thursday.
Top 10th inning
The Dodgers score again in the top of the 10th inning after a single by Enrique Hernandez and a double by Yasmani Grandal. Though Alexi Ogando pitched well, he picked up the loss.
Braves go pretty quick in the bottom of the 10th inning, except for Erick Aybar. He hit a double down the line with one out, but Castro and Freeman both flied out to end the game.
Other highlights of the game
Jeff Francoeur still has a cannon! Francoeur fielded a single in right field and then fires a strike to home plate with a running Kershaw. Flowers put the tag on and he’s called out. The Dodgers challenged this play, but the call stands in the 7th inning.
Aybar had a two hit (two double) game
Garcia had two hits, but also had two errors
Francoeur had two hits
Stubbs had two hits
Braves offense had 11 hits and 10 off Kershaw. We’ll forget about the 10 strikeouts he had
Wilser pitched a hell of a game. He went 6 2/3 innings giving up only four hits, one run (unearned) and two walks. He totaled six strikeouts against the Dodgers lineup.
Eric O’Flaherty, Jim Johnson and Arodys Vizcaino pitched 2 1/3 innings and allowed three hits and zero runs.
Braves now take on the New York Mets this weekend in a three-game series