Freeman walks off to give Atlanta Braves an extra-inning win against San Francisco

A walk-off #FREEBOMB wins it for Atlanta in extras against the San Francisco Giants

For one shining moment, all the muck and misery that’s enveloped the Atlanta Braves in 2016 went away. With a 12^th-inning swing of the bat, Freddie Freeman hit a walk-off blast and authored one of the best moments of Atlanta’s season.

We never saw it coming. As Freeman himself acknowledged in his postgame interview with Kelsey Wingert, it’s been a rough season and Wednesday started off as more of the same.  Freddie had three strikeouts on Wednesday night and a walk.

He erased those memories by launching the first pitch of the 12^th inning into the stratosphere had to be pretty therapeutic.

So a few streaks were snapped, a few things fell into place. Like an 0-30 mark when trailing after eight innings. Like a long drought from Freeman (.194, 28.2 percent strikeout rate since May 15). Like the season’s first walk-off hit. It was a good night.

It didn’t start out so well. After falling behind early on a two-run home run by Brandon Belt in the top of the fourth, Atlanta cut the deficit in half in the home half thanks to a Gordon Beckham groundout that scored Ender Inciarte.

The Giants tacked on runs in the fifth (Joe Panik sac fly) and sixth (Albert Suarez helping his own cause with a single that Beckham bobbled getting out of his glove after a tremendous diving stop) before Atlanta scratched two back thanks to a pinch-hit Chase d’Arnaud double, a Mallex Smith triple and Beckham’s double-play ball that scored Mallex. The Beckham grounder may have far-reaching implications, as he pulled up with an apparent left leg injury after missing some time due to left hamstring trouble in April and May. Paging Dansby Swanson? Ha, but no.

(Also down with a leg injury: San Francisco’s Hunter Pence, who exited in the fourth inning after clutching his right hamstring coming up the line after a grounder.)

Not much happened until the ninth, and it really looked like Atlanta was just content to sort of take the loss. Then Santiago Casilla wandered out of the Giants bullpen refusing to throw strikes—first, he hit Adonis Garcia in the arm, then gave up a bloop single to Nick Markakis that sent Garcia to third—a curious thing, since Gregor Blanco fielded the shallow drive with ease and Garcia doesn’t remind anyone of Kenny Lofton on the basepaths. Maybe Blanco got confused and thought Mallex was out there.

Garcia would score on a wild pitch, Markakis would advance to second and, after an intentional pass to Kelly Johnson, Tyler Flowers struck out and d’Arnaud grounded out to send the game into extras.

(Which was unfortunate, because that meant more of Joe Simpson and Paul Byrd together. Missed you tonight, Chip.)

Williams Was Wonderful

Williams Perez didn’t get the win against San Francisco Wednesday night but we need to talk about him real quick because Williams Perez has been kinda good lately.

Beginning with his last Triple-A start—against Charlotte, he tossed a complete-game one-hitter, May 6—Perez has been pretty excellent in three of his last four starts, allowing two earned runs or less in all but his May 16 beating at the hands (bats?) of the Pittsburgh Pirates (nine hits, six earned over six innings).

Perez hasn’t been great. He hasn’t been life- or future-plan altering—we’ll never sit around on the interwebs wondering who the Braves will move Sean Newcomb or Max Fried for, since we’re all set with Williams Perez. But he’s been pretty good, and was again Wednesday—5.2 innings, five hits, four runs (three earned, and would’ve been two if Ian Krol could get anyone out)—against the Giants.

This hasn’t been the happiest season, so it’s worth noting when someone does something good, especially when it’s been with any consistency. Williams Perez has been that dude for about a month now. And he kept the Braves within striking distance for all the fireworks that followed.

Next: Braves to Break the Bank on International Signings

If watching batters struggle is your thing, you’re in for a real treat Thursday, as Madison Bumgarner and Aaron Blair square off in a matinee (12:15 p.m. ET) at the Ted. If Atlanta were to win, they would take three of four from the visitors ahead of the six-game West Coast swing to Los Angeles and San Diego.