Atlanta Braves beat Oakland behind R.A. Dickey; clutch hitting from Santana and Swanson
By Dan Horton
R.A. Dickey provided another solid outing in Oakland. He allowed one run but got a no-decision. However, the Braves victory secured the series against the Athletics.
The Atlanta Braves struck first blood in the second game of three against the Oakland Athletics on Saturday afternoon.
3. 96. 4. 17. Final
Leading off the second inning, Tyler Flowers hit an innocent ground ball to shortstop. The A’s defense has been horrid in 2017, and their defense reared its ugly head again.
Franklin Barreto fielded threw the ball into the Braves dugout, allowing Flowers to advance to second.
After a Johan Camargo line out to center, Braves left fielder Danny Santana roped a double to to the gap and Flowers scored easily to give Atlanta a 1-0 lead.
The Athletics evened things up in their half of the fourth inning. Jed Lowrie recorded out number one on a line to Santana.
R.A. Dickey got into some trouble then. He walked Khris Davis and Yonder Alonso singled. The next hitter was Ryon Healy, and he singled to Ender Inciarte, bringing home Davis.
It remained a 1-1 tie going into the 7th inning. Camargo popped out and then Santana singled off A’s reliever, Sean Doolittle. Then, Santana showed off the wheels.
Santan proceeded to not only steal second, but also third. In the batter’s box was Dansby Swanson. After the steal of third, Swanson pulled a double to left field scoring Santana to give Atalnta the lead, 2-1.
Leading off the 8th, Nick Markakis missed a home run by just a couple of feet but slid into second for a double. It was Marklakis’ 1,977 hit in his career.
Nick moved over to third on a ground ball to second base for the first out. Kemp gave a good at bat after falling behind 1 and 2, he battled back to work a full count.
On the next pitch to the next hitter, Matt Adams lifted a deep fly ball to left field. It sent A’s outfielder Matt Joyce to the warning track, and Markakis trotted home for the third Atlanta run.
In the A’s part of the 8th, the fortunes for the Braves turned. The 3rd run in the Braves’ half proved helpful.
With Arodys Vizcaino on in relief, he walked the leadoff hitter Lowrie. The next hitter was Khris Davis, and he carried with him, 21 home runs. Davis didn’t miss his pitch. He laced a long, deep home run to straight away center to tie the game at 3.
The bottom of the order came through with clutch plate appearances all day. Danny Santana again, came reached on Barreta’ssecond error of the game. Santana also swiped his 3rd bag of the game (4th of the season) easily.
In scoring position, again, Santana would score on Dansby Swanson‘s second double of the game. Down in the count 0-2, Swanson lined a sinking fastball to the left field wall.
Jim Johnson took the mound in the bottom half of the ninth, and notched the save, retiring the side in order.
Next: Sean Rodriguez Plays in GCL Game
The Braves look to sweep the A’s tomorrow afternoon. Julio Teheran (6-6, 5.30) faces off against Sean Manaea (7-4, 3.87). With today’s win, Atlanta moves to 39-41 on the season.