Win, win, win. The Braves take their 4th game in a row, or 9th of the last 11, or 12th of the last 15, or 14th of the last 18, or however you want to look at it. Of the Braves last 12 wins, 9 have come by 4 runs or more. The Phillies have the best record of any 2nd place club in the National League, and a 3 game lead for the first wild card spot, and the Braves are 14 games ahead of them.
Some details: Matt Olson went 3 – 5 with 2 RBIs and a run scored, and Austin Riley and Orlando Arcia added solo home runs. Max Fried surrendered a 2 run homer to Wilmer Flores in the 3rd to tie the game, but was pretty sharp otherwise, lasting 6 innings, giving up 6 hits, walking 2 and striking out 8.
The homers came in the 5th and 6th innings and gave the Braves a 4 – 2 lead. 3 runs in the 8th sealed it. Kirby Yates and Pierce Johnson looked good in the 7th and 8th. The Giants put together a couple of hits in the 9th off A.J. Minter to scratch across their final run. Riley’s homer was his 30th of the season, and Ronald Acuna Jr. stole his 59th base of the season.
I really don’t know what else to say.
The Braves look for the series sweep on Sunday at 7:10 on ESPN; Jared Shuster vs. SDB (Some Damn Body.)
I should add that 14 game lead is pending the result of Saturday’s Phillies – Cardinals game.
Giants starter tomorrow (Sunday) is making his first MLB start after about 20 games from their pen with a 3.34 era.
I like Shuster and Braves sweep chances agains the Giants in the 4pm EST game start.
Does the game start at 4 or 7? Mlb site says 7.
It’s the ESPN game; 7 EDT, 4 PDT.
I just went to Camden Yards, and boy, that’s a great place to watch baseball. The fans are so keyed-up. The Orioles are very well-rounded, though the Bautista injury could be pretty devastating.
But I have to say – watching them, compared to the Braves, the Braves are simply the better team. Despite the similarity in records, it was just so clear on the field. The Orioles are a good team. The Braves are something beyond that.
A Braves/Orioles World Series would be wonderful…
Wish I could go to the stadium but I had to pass OPACY on my way to Hopkins to see my first grandson. The stadium is great but the traffic is horrible. 🙂
The Braves hit some absolute laser beams today. The game summary on Baseball Savant is just full of red. Olson hit the ball particularly well, with exit velocities of 100.1, 109.4, and 106.5.
Our FCL (rookie) team took the league championship yesterday with a sweep of the Yankees. Go Braves!