Atlanta Braves Rally to Tie Game Late; Win in Ten 6-4

The Atlanta Braves rallied to tie the game in the 8th against the Phillies. They pulled out the win in extra frames 6-4.

The Atlanta Braves started Saturday night where they left off from on Friday night. Adonis Garcia opened the scoring with a opposite field gap home run (12), into the wind, to the deepest part of the park.

With two down in the bottom of the first, Maikel Franco roped a liner to left field. Somehow, Matt Kemp flat out missed it. Maybe it knuckled, maybe it didn’t. Either way, Kemp should have caught it. The play, ruled a double, should have been an error to Kemp.

Braves starter John Gant looked focused and worked around the error. He got Ryan Howard looking to end the frame.

In the top of the third, Dansby Swanson led off with a single, Gant sacrificed him to second. Ender Inciarte then hit a bouncer back to the pitcher. Swanson took off and made a great slide to initially avoid the tag.

Replay, though, said otherwise. He almost made it work. Ender committed a base-running blunder as well, almost getting picked off at first.

After a 4th consecutive throw to first, Ender took off for second, only to realize that the pitcher still had the ball. After scrambling back to first, Howard couldn’t handle the throw and Ender wound up at second anyway.

It makes you wonder, if Swanson doesn’t make an out, or stays at second, could it have been 2-0? The Braves, however, were sent away empty handed.

The Phillies brought it back to even at 1 on a 2-out home run from Cesar Hernandez. The drive barely cleared the wall. Gant hit the next hitter, Aaron Altherr. Franco reached on an infield single, and Ryan Howard walked, and like that, the bases were loaded. All this happening with 2 outs.

Cameron Rupp made the Braves and Gant pay with a 2-run double. It would have been three, if it weren’t for the slow Howard.

Atlanta got a run back after a pass ball allowed Matt Kemp to scamper to third. Nick Markakis scored Kemp on a SAC fly, making 3-2.

The Phillies added to their lead in the fifth with a run scoring double from Altherr, pushing it to 4-2.

In the Braves’ sixth, Garcia closed the gap by 1 with his second home run (13) of the night. A no doubter to left got out of the park in a hurry. Garcia picked a nice time to have his second career multi-homer game.

Atlanta tied it in the 8th on a ground out from Adonis Garcia, his 3rd RBI on the night. Chase d’Arnaud walked, Inciarte doubled, and Garcia brought home Chase.

To set that score up, It took some help from the Phillies defense. A dropped foul pop that off the bat of d’Arnaud should have been the 3rd out. The next pitch to Chase was ball 4. The Inciarte double moved him to third to set up Garcia’s ground out RBI.

In the bottom of the ninth, Braves reliever, and recent call-up, Jed Bradley made his debut and got the Phillies 1-2-3.

A wonderful start in the tenth, as Garcia walked to lead off, Freddie Freeman singled to put runners on first and third. Kemp grounded out moving Freeman to second. Nick Markakis was intentionally walked and Tyler Flowers hit into a fielder’s choice scoring Garcia.

Jace Peterson added another run with a ground out to first. Atlanta led 6-4.

With the runs in the 10th, Mauricio Cabrera came on to close it out, effectively securing Bradley’s first MLB win.

Next: Blair to the DL; Weber Coming Up

The Braves go for the sweep tomorrow afternoon. Julio Teheran (4-9, 3.12) gets the nod for Atlanta. You can catch first pitch at 1:35 PM EST.