Colon Sharp, Inciarte Homers Again, Atlanta Braves Dominant As They Beat Padres Again

The Atlanta Braves celebrated Easter at SunTrust Park with another win as the pitching was sharp and bats remained hot.

On a great sunny day for baseball, the Atlanta Braves gave fans a fun win as an Easter treat. Bartolo Colon allowed only one hit in seven strong innings and gave up only one run, the one home-run while striking out six.

The Braves’ bats were alive scoring nine runs on ten hits. A minor leaguer got his first MLB hit with the team. We also got to witness another former Brave, the catcher-turned-pitcher Christian Bethancourt, who contributed to the cause for the home team.

Colon started the game strong in the first inning, getting Manuel Margot to ground out and then followed with two strikeouts. The next inning, he gave up the lone hit, a 1-out home run to center to Ryan Schimpf.

Padres’ pitcher, Trevor Cahill, another former Braves, started the game out promising as well, facing the minimum for four innings. After striking out Nick Markakis in the 5th inning (his 6th at the time), gave up a single to Brandon Phillips. Phillips would then steal 2nd and later reach 3rd on a wild pitch. Adonis Garcia would be walked and would also advance a base on a separate wild pitch.

Tyler Flowers then lined a ball down center, scoring Phillips and Garcia, putting the Braves in front 2-1.

The following inning, the Braves continued the offense.

Inciarte got on base with a single and Freddie Freeman was intentionally walked. After Markakis moved the runners to 2nd and 3rd, Phillips singled down the center as well to score two more runs.

That hit took Cahill out of the game and sent Miguel Diaz to the mound who got Garcia to ground out to end the inning.

More from Tomahawk Take

• Braves News: New Year’s Eve comes with several questions about the 2023 Braves
• Braves News: How the Braves got their name, mailbag, more
• Atlanta Braves Mailbag: New Year’s Edition
• Braves News: Atlanta makes a pair of trades, prospect debuts, more
• Atlanta Braves History: How the Red Stockings became the Braves

For the 7th inning, Flowers lead off the inning with a double. The ball was shot towards the 3rd base plate and called fair but a fan interfered not seeing the call, and reached down to pick it up. Would’ve been a double either way, so no harm.

Up next was Jace Peterson, who launched a ball to left but was robbed of the homer by Travis Jankowski. Flowers was back and forth during that hit and came back to 2nd a bit weird. He would leave the game and was announced to be day-to-day with a right hamstring strain.

Anthony Recker, pinch-running for Flowers, moved to 3rd on another wild pitch and after scored on a balk.

Ender Inciarte is definitely out of his slump. On the 2nd pitch of the at-bat, he sent a no-doubter to left for his fourth home-run of the season.

https://twitter.com/Braves/status/853701582218776577

While Inciarte seems to be out of his slump, Dansby Swanson is still stuck in his. The young shortstop went 0-4 for the day while also hitting into a double play earlier in the game.

In the eight inning, with Recker behind the plate, Ian Krol went to relieved Colon. He wasn’t so sharp today, walking Schimpf to start the inning. Next, he gave up a single to Hunter Renfroe.

After striking out Hector Sanchez, Krol walked Aybar and allowed Schimpf (coming from 3rd base) to score on a pass ball. A strikeout and a groundout later ended the inning.

Braves ended their at-bat strong.

With Zach Lee pitching for the Padres, Freeman drew a walk to start the bottom of the 8th. Markakis then doubled to left to score Freeman. Phillips followed with a single to score another run.

Enter Bethancourt. This was my first time seeing the converted pitcher pitch and was exactly what I expected. Bethancourt gave up a single to Recker and Johan Camargo (his first major league hit) putting the Braves up 9-2.

Notable factors

The Braves are getting hot, keeping the bats hot even with Matt Kemp still out. Kemp is said to be set to return soon – Wednesday to be exact – and it can only add to the already strong offense.

Swanson is still struggling but like Inciarte was, he needs to work it out himself and will pick up sooner or later, hopefully sooner.

Freeman is still getting killed with high fastballs. It seems like in whatever at-bat, with two strikes, it seems almost certain he will get that pitch and almost certain he’ll chase after it.

Next: One Braves Set To Return Soon While Another Heads To The DL

The Braves will try to sweep the Padres as they face Jered Weaver tomorrow in the series finale at 7:35 PM.