Atlanta Braves Take Down The Phillies With Strong Performance By R.A. Dickey

Braves Split Series With In Division Rival, Philadelphia Phillies

As the Atlanta Braves headed into this mid-week series against the Phillies, I thought ‘heck yeah, we get to beat down on a crappy team’, but after Monday and Tuesday night games, I was feeling a bit numb.

The Phillies came into this series with a record of 19-34…the worst team in the entire MLB.  The Braves, not much better at 24-30, but we were coming off a series win against the Cincinnati Reds and we’ve been playing pretty solid baseball.

Game 1 – Phillies won 11-4

Game 2 – Phillies won 3-1

Luckily, the Braves had Mike Foltynewicz on the mound for game three.  Folty shut down the somehow hot bats of the Phillies and the Braves offense exploded…Atlanta won game three 14-1.

The Night of the Dickey!

Game four of this series was all about the knuckleball and R.A. Dickey.  The veteran pitched seven innings, gave up three hits, one run, no walks and had eight strikeouts.  It was by far the best performance he’s had in a Braves uniform.

The 42-year-old didn’t walk anyone and his knuckleball was insane in the Atlanta heat.  He threw 101 pitches on Thursday night and 68 were strikes.  In his five previous starts, he had walked at least three hitters…Thursday?  Zero!  The last time he did that was August 2, 2016 — 19 starts ago.

“I’ve never really seen it dance like that before,” Braves second baseman Brandon Phillips said after the game.  “He had that Bugs Bunny going.”

The Braves used Tyler Flowers to catch Dickey on Thursday.  It was the first time he had caught him — besides practices and bullpens — since Spring Training.  Braves manager Brian Snitker said before the game that Kurt Suzuki was “beat up while catching Dickey on Saturday” so they gave him a break.

“If I’m able to take what I did tonight and repeat that, then the next 22 starts are going to be pretty dodgum good,” Dickey told reporters following Thursday night’s game.

After Dickey exited the game, Arodys Vizcaino came into the game in the 8th.  Vizzy got two outs, but also gave up a hit and a walk.  Snitker was forced to use Ian Krol to get the final out of the 8th. Jim Johnson came in to shut down the Phillies in the 9th.  Johnson picked up his 12 save of the 2017 season.

Braves Offense on Thursday

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The Braves started fast and furious on Thursday.  Ender Inciarte led off the game with a walk and Brandon Phillips followed that with a double.  Nick Markakis hit a shot to second base which scored Inciarte and moved Phillips to second.  Matt Kemp then hit a double deep to the center-right field gap which plated Phillips.

Good guys up 2-0

Not too much offense for either team in innings two through five — many innings were three up and three down.

In the bottom of the 6th inning, the Braves were able to touch home plate again.  With one out, Matt Adams hit a single to center field.  Then Markakis hit a double deep to center field and Adams came around from first to score.

Good guys up 3-0

Phillies got a run in the top of the 7th inning off Dickey, but let’s not talk too much about that.

Braves WIN 3-1

Next: Braves 3B Adonis Garcia back on DL

A few notable hitters:

Phillips went 2-4 with a run scored

Kemp went 2-4 with a RBI

Adams went 2-4 with a run scored

Flowers went 2-4 with a RBI

And how about this — Inciarte, Phillips, Kemp and Flowers are all hitting above .300 batting average!