Atlanta Braves Gifted a Much Needed Win By Phillies

The Atlanta Braves and Philadelphia Phillies squared off in the second game of a four-game set on Tuesday night.

After opening their divisional series with a frustrating 7-3 loss on Monday, the Atlanta Braves looked to get back in the win column as they sent Max Fried to the mound against Kyle Gibson and the Philadelphia Phillies.

After a scoreless first inning, both the Phillies and Braves broke into the scoring column in the second.  Trailing 1-0 heading into the bottom of the frame the Braves got back-to-back two-out singles from Dansby Swanson and Ronald Acuna, Jr to grab a 2-1 lead.  Maybe just as importantly, the Braves drove Kyle Gibson’s pitch count to 52 pitches after two frames and were on pace to get into the Phillies bullpen early.

Max Fried, on the other hand, was on cruise control, getting a lot of soft contact off of the Phillies bats and keeping his pitch count low through five innings.

The Phillies would tie the game at two in the top of the sixth but their momentum was short-lived, as Matt Olson led off the bottom of the sixth with a solo home run, giving Atlanta the lead right back.  The Braves loaded the bases with nobody out following Olson’s home run, but only managed one additional run, extending the lead to 4-2 heading into the seventh.

The Phillies added another run in the seventh, narrowing the Atlanta lead to 4-3, and that is where the lead would stay heading into the top of the ninth with Kenley Jansen coming on to attempt to close out a Braves win.  But Bryce Harper had other ideas.

After a four-pitch walk to Alec Bohm, Bryce Harper jumped on the first pitch he saw from Kenley Jansen, driving it out of the ballpark and giving the Phillies a 5-4 lead heading into the bottom of the ninth.

Dansby Swanson wasted no time putting energy back into the deflated crowd at Truist Park by leading off the bottom of the ninth with a double and then taking third base on a wild pitch.

Ronald Acuna lifted what seemed like a routine sacrifice fly into right-center field, but miscommunication between Roman Quinn and Nick Castellanos caused the ball to find the grass, and Ronald Acuna, Jr wound up standing at second base because of it.

William Contreras wasted no time delivering the first walk-off hit of his career, lining a 1-1 changeup into center field, scoring Acuna from second, and capping off a wild ninth-inning comeback for the Atlanta Braves.

The Atlanta Braves evened up their series with the Philadelphia Phillies with a 6-5 walk-off win on Tuesday.

This game was a rollercoaster of emotions as the Braves wasted some great scoring opportunities and the Phillies refused to go quietly.

In the end, the Braves displayed some of the never say die attitude that was one of the hallmarks of the World Series-winning team a year ago.

While the Braves left a lot of men on base tonight, there were some offensive highlights to be excited about.

Ozzie Albies and Dansby Swanson both contributed three-hit games by primarily driving the ball up the middle and going the other way, and Matt Olson hit his first home run in what felt like forever.

And while Will Smith, A.J. Minter, and Kenley Jansen were not their normal dominant selves, any game where your closer blows a save and you still find a way to win is the type of win that can carry over to the next day and beyond.

Hopefully, that will be the case for this Braves club that has yet to put together any sort of consistent winning baseball this season.

The Braves and Phillies will play game three of this four-game set tomorrow, with first pitch scheduled for 7:20 PM EST.  The Phillies will send Ranger Suarez to the mound and the Braves will counter with Charlie Morton.