Atlanta Braves Throw Dominant Performance at Philly, Win 7-1
Braves get pitching, hitting, and fielding all at the same time to stymie Philadelphia for another road win
It almost seemed last night that the two teams on the field had switched uniforms or otherwise reversed roles.
For Philadelphia, every break has been falling their way this season in jumping out to a 24-17 record (before this game). For Atlanta… well, you know all too well how tough the battle has been to this point. Yet for one night at least, everything came together and gave the Braves a 7-1 victory in the first game of this weekend series that will end this oh-so-long road trip.
The Phillies pitched well with Aaron Nola up to start the game, but his team supported him with only 6 hits, scoring only via a groundout. In addition, they had their own troubles fielding the ball with 2 errors (would have been 3 except for a replay review), and the bullpen couldn’t stem the tide late.
All of that sound familiar? In reverse?
Philly third baseman Maikel Franco had a forgettable night – committing both of the errors that led to a total of 3 unearned runs – and as mentioned it could have been worse as he barely managed to avoid a third miscue: his was the overturned error.
For the Braves? Multiple milestones:
- A 2-homer game by Freddie Freeman, one of them to the opposite field. 4 RBI total.
- The first homer of the year by Nick Markakis, also an opposite field shot.
- An excellent outing from Matt Wisler: 5 hits, 2 walks and 7 strikeouts to lower his ERA to 2.93 and make him the first Braves pitcher to get to *gulp* 2 wins on the year.
But Finally, “It” Happened
This represented the 11th attempt by Atlanta to get a call overturned by replay review.
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It is the first time they were successful in doing so this year.
- Every other team has had at least 2 successes this season
- Every other team has had a success rate of at least 25% (pending last night’s action)
- Overall, roughly 43% of manger-requested reviews have resulted in overturned calls
- In 2015, the Braves had a 51% success rate
So you see: it really was the complete package for this game.
How strange was this? Erick Aybar was given an intentional walk at one point (to bring up Matt Wisler). Aybar is hitting .178. Okay, Wisler is hitting .063, but still…
I could get used to this.
Next: But Was He Drinking Red Bull?
(It gives you “wings”, I hear)