Atlanta Braves Fall In Final Home Game Of Season But Had A Few Bright Spots

In the final home game of SunTrust Park’s inaugural season, the Atlanta Braves fell to the Phillies 2-0, but Luiz Gohara had the best start of his career while Ender Inciarte continues his chase for 200 hits

We are finally through 1 full season at SunTrust Park. Luiz Gohara took the mound for the Atlanta Braves today and continued to show what the future could hold. Over 7 innings, Gohara gave up only 1 run with only 2 walks and 9 strikeouts. It was the best start of his MLB career!

However, as impressive as Gohara was, the Braves just couldn’t score any runs against Nick Pivetta. Pivetta went 6 innings while allowing 5 hits, walking 1 and striking out only 4.

Arguably, Gohara had a better pitching game. An unlucky homer from Maikel Franco gave Phillies the lead. Then, eventually, a RBI double from Aaron Altherr solidified the game for them.

More from Tomahawk Take

• Atlanta Braves 2023 Preseason Top 30 Prospects List: 21-25
• Braves News: Braves Acquire Hoy Park
• Braves Sign Ehire Adrianza, Mitchell Tolman to Minor League Deals
• What would a Max Fried extension look like?
• Braves News: Dansby to the Red Sox?, Braves top prospects, more

The closest the Braves came to scoring was in the 5th and 6th inning. During the 5th, the Braves had 2 consecutive 2-out hits from Dansby Swanson and Jace Peterson but Gohara struck out to end the inning.

In the 6th, Ender Inciarte lead off with a single and move to 3rd on 2 ground-outs. However, a 3rd grounder from Nick Markakis ended that inning.

Inciarte would get 3 hits total to bring his season count to 197 and is that much closer to making history.

The Greatest Race In History

This was something that had been hyped up for weeks and was finally settled after the 7th inning.

The Thunderbyrd took on The Freeze in what was probably the “most anticipated race” ever…and The Freeze absolutely smoked Paul Byrd.

Closing It Out

AJ Minter came out to pitch the 8th and even though he gave up the 2nd run, he did strike out 2. We got to see Jim Johnson pitch -the 9th- which has become sort of a rare sighting and got a 2 fly-outs and a line-out.

Markakis got to show off his defensive skills when he threw out 2 baserunners. The big one came in the very first inning when Cesar Hernandez got nabbed for trying to turn a single into a double.

Even though this means the Braves will end with a 37-44 home record, it’s still an improvement from last year.

With the free Sandlot entry for fans, the kids getting to run bases, the young Braves showing their value and the race between The Byrd and The Freeze, it was still a very fun day at the Braves game. Overall, still a nice way to do the final home game.

Now only a week left of the MLB regular season, the Braves will finish it on the road.

Next: So Long Joe

Tomorrow, the Braves meet the Mets for a doubleheader with Lucas Sims and Max Fried expected to make the starts.