Atlanta Braves Show Lots Of Life Late, But That Unfortunate Top 9th Inning Happened

Braves Score Two Late To Tie, But Fail To Capitalize

Game two of this three game series with the Atlanta Braves against the Cleveland Indians was played out on Tuesday evening with the Indians winning 5-3.  If you’re looking quickly and didn’t watch the game, you may think the Indians dominated this one…that was not the case.

In the 1st inning, Braves starter Matt Wisler struck out two batters, but also allowed two runs.  He started the inning striking out Carlos Santana, but then allowed back-to-back singles to Jason Kipnis and Francisco Lindor.  Jose Ramirez singled in Santana.

The Indians then pulled off a double steal…Ramirez stole second, A.J. Pierzynski threw it there and Erick Aybar fumbled the catch.  Lindor was able to steal home.  Indians up 2-0

Wisler settled down after that first inning going six innings, six hits, two runs, two walks and nine strikeouts.  Career high of nine k’s by the way!

“That 1st inning killed me again, so I’ve got to figure that out, Wisler said after the game.  “The 1st innings have killed me in June so I’ve got to pick that up going forward.  After that I settled in, made better pitches and had a better bite to my slider.”

Braves Boxing Gloves

Indians starter Corey Kluber dominated the Braves hitters through the first five innings.  In the 6th inning however, the Braves were able to get to 2014 Cy Young Winner.

Aybar started off the inning with a single and Emilio Bonifacio followed with another single.  These were the first hits of the night for the Braves.

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Wisler sac bunted these runners into scoring position – 2nd and 3rd one out.  Jace Peterson unfortunately was called out looking at strike three – 2nd and 3rd two outs.  Ender Inciarte is next.

Inciarte fouled off six and saw eight pitches in this at-bat and was able to get a ball over the plate to hit to center field.  Both Aybar and Bonifacio came in to score.  Braves tie the game 2-2!  Yes, Inciarte made a bad base running mistake on this as he rounded first base to far, the ball was cut off and got him out.

“That’s as good of at-bat I’ve seen all year,” Brian Snitker said after the game.  “A lot of good things that inning and we started to feel like ‘hey, we’re going to be in this game’.”

That 9th Inning…ugh, yay, ugh, yay, ugh…

Braves Arodys Vizcaino came in to pitch the 9th inning in a non-save situation.  He walked Tyler Naquin and Juan Uribe to start the inning.

With two on, Michael Martinez tried to bunt these runners over, but Vizzy was able to strike him out.

Santana singled to right field to score Naquin.  Lindor reached first because of an error by Aybar at short and Ramirez singled to center to score Santana.  Indians up 5-2

In the bottom of the 9th inning with one out off Indians closer Cody Allen, Peterson hit his second home run of the season to deep center field.

Then the controversial call of the night – daily occurrences for the Braves – happened when Inciarte almost beats out a ball to first base.  It looked like Inciarte and the ball got to the bag at the same exact time.  The Braves challenged the play, but it was probably however the call was originally made was how it would stay…and that was the case.

After the call was made, you’ll see in the video Jeff Francoeur throw his hat in disgust and get ejected from the game.

“We are an emotional group and out there trying to win every night,” Snitker said.  “Sometimes you react.  We’ve been an emotional team for quite some time now.  The guy wants to win, can’t fault anyone for that.”

After that Freddie Freeman hit a ball off the left-center wall for another triple.  This is his third triple of the 2016 season.

With the tying runner on third, Nick Markakis lined out to left field to end the game.  Indians win 5-3

“They don’t quit, anything could have happened there,” Snitker said about the 9th inning.

Braves Annouce Starter For Wednesday

One more note – The Braves announce that Joel De La Cruz will be our starter tomorrow against the Indians in the final game of this Interleague game.  The 27-year-old has been called up to the Braves twice this season, but didn’t throw an inning.  This will mark his MLB debut.

The Braves optioned Matt Marksberry back to Triple-A Gwinnett to open this spot on the roster.

“He had a really good eight innings the last time out,” Snitker said of De La Cruz.  “Hopefully he can come out and do the same.  This time I hope we can watch him pitch.  We’ve had him up twice now and he hasn’t pitched.  Looking forward to it, he’s our guy.”