Behold the power of the slow roller. The Braves scored 2 of their runs on balls that didn’t make it 90 feet, and 3 double plays helped them to limit 11 Brewer hits to that same total.
Atlanta opened the scoring in the top of the first when a Mauricio Dubon ground-rule double scored Ozzie Albies from 2nd. The Brewers tied the score in the 3rd, but the Braves went ahead for good in the 4th. 3rd baseman David Hamilton slipped trying to field Sean Murphy‘s 2-out slow roller, which allowed Drake Baldwin to score from 3rd and for Murphy to get his first RBI of the season. 1st baseman Andrew Vaughn managed to stay on his feet while booting Michael Harris II‘s 2-out grounder in the 6th, so he was rewarded with an error, and the Braves were rewarded with their 3rd run.
Tyler Mahle got through 5 innings, allowing a run on 6 hits and 2 walks, while striking out 4. Didier Fuentes pitched 2 scoreless innings and threw 20 of 25 pitches for strikes.
The last 2 innings were a little shaky. A Christian Yelich double and a Luis Lara triple in the 8th off Dylan Lee cut the score to 3 – 2 and led to the call to Raisel Iglesias to get the final out of the inning.
A 9th inning homer by Harris was a bright spot in Atlanta’s churning urn of offensive funk. It looked to be especially handy in the bottom of the inning, as a leadoff single and walk brought the winning run to the plate with nobody out. William Contreras hit a ball to deep right center, but Harris was able to bring it in for the first out, and a 1-6-3 double play ended it. Appropriate for the Little Leaque Classic, both throws were skipped across the infield like a 12-year-old skipping rocks across a pond.
I prefer games on Apple, Amazon, Peacock, etc. to ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball, because I don’t have any of those services and therefore never make the mistake of turning them on. The Little League Classic from Williamsport gave ESPN an opportunity to rise to levels of insufferability previously never before considered, and they rose to the occasion. Having an unlimited supply of kids to interview on top of the usual split screen interviews and IN GAME CONVERSATIONS WITH PLAYERS must have been a dream for whatever baseball hating producer was inflicted upon us. It will be a lifetime memory for those kids, but for me, I’m sure I will have forgotten about it by the next time the Braves are on ESPN and I will once again make the mistake of turning them on for a few minutes.
Albies, Lane Thomas, and Austin Riley had 2 hits each. The Braves move to 76 – 55 and maintain a 3-game lead over the Phillies. Off on Monday, then the Dodgers come to town for 3 games. Bryce Elder and Tyler Glasnow scheduled Tuesday.
Agree 100% on ESPN Sunday night. Beyond bad. Hard to follow the game — one was hard-pressed to know that there was a tense, exciting baseball game going on behind (beneath?) the banalities and cringe-inducing broadcast overlay. Or whatever all of that was.
The “highlight” of the ESPN coverage came when Karl Ravech called the Braves “floundering” to the audience, forgetting that Chris Sale was in the booth with them. When Sale called them out, the awkwardness was nicely palpable.
The other “great” moment in the broadcast came when Ravech asked nepo baby Eduardo Pérez to comment on the help veteran Sean Murphy was giving Mahle. Pérez, not listening to the context, proceeded to give a two-minute canned speech about how great Pat Murphy was for the Brewers, forcing Ravech, after about three pitches to provide a little cover, to re-ask the question specifying the proper Murphy, and getting canned speech #2.
I was waiting for further disquisitions on Dale Murphy, Audie Murphy, Murphy Brown, and Murphy’s Law.
The decision that ESPN had made to hype the non-syllogism — (A) Little Leaguers are joyful baseball players; (B) Ronald Acuña Jr. acts like a little kid; therefore (C) Hanging out with Little Leaguers all day was going to up his game for the remainder of the season — was spectacularly loony. When he rounded third without picking up Tommy Watkins and was then thrown out at third base trying to get back, I thought “Hey… they’re right! Just like a Little Leaguer!”
The postgame interview (yes, I’m a glutton for punishment) with Michael Harris II was gold as well, when they asked Harris about his Little League experience and he had to confess he didn’t play Little League and was on travel ball teams instead.