Matt Olson singled home ghost runner Brewer Hicklen in the bottom of the 10th to walk off the Rockies and complete the 3-game series sweep. Tyler Mahle struck out 9 in 6 2/3 innings, allowing 1 run on 5 hits and 0 walks. It was only the Rockies, but that was the task in front of him.
Last week I had the pleasure of writing about Sean Murphy‘s first RBI of the season. Sure, it was August 23rd, and sure, it was on a 70-foot roller where the 3rd baseman fell down. But if it kicks off a 7-game winning streak, who’s counting? This week I have the pleasure to report that Murphy drove in his 4th run of the season on his 2nd home run of the week. Maybe more regular playing time helps or maybe it’s random, but let’s roll with it.
Murphy’s homer put Atlanta up 1 – 0 in the 3rd and was immediately followed by an Austin Riley double off the very top of the left field wall. After taking 3rd on a wild pitch, Riley scored on a Ronald Acuna Jr. single.
Brandon Jake McCarthy‘s homer in the 5th accounted for the run charged to Mahle. The Rockies then tied it in the 8th on a single, bunt, groundout, single. Raisel Iglesias shut Colorado down in the 9th, but the Braves could not win it in regulation. Victory Mederos tossed an uneventful 10th to get credit for his 4th win.
The Braves hold a 5 1/2 game lead in the NL East, pending the outcome of the Phillies/Angels game. The Rockies are probably happy to be leaving for Denver, presumably on a jet plane, but I doubt they do much better there. San Francisco comes to town for 1 game Monday at 6:05 Eastern, Bryce Elder and Anthony Molina scheduled, then off to Washington for 3, starting on Tuesday.
Thanks Rusty, although I believe the fifth inning Rocky homer was hit by Jake McCarthy, not Brandon. By the way, it was bothering me the whole series that Jake McCarthy reminded me of somebody else. I’ve decided it was David Cassidy from the Partridge Family. You have to be a certain age for that to ring any bells, for sure!
You are correct, of course. I’ve updated it, thanks.
At least there was a real Brandon
McCarthy. As opposed to my reference to “Anthony” Mederos, who never existed. Brandon McCarthy was pretty good, although he never hit a home run in 167 plate appearances in the bigs. I had not noticed the Keith Partridge resemblance, but I think you’re right.
I’m not totally senile, but I’m getting there as fast as I can.
What I couldn’t figure out was how McCarthy found time to hit leadoff for the Rockies and fail as Viking QB. Failing at QB takes a lot of time!
Phillies win, so the lead remains 5 games.
Magic number is 21. That is not very high with 25 to play.
Let’s take control of our destiny and go 21-4
every time we beat the Phillies, the number will go down by two.
Thanks, Rusty! During the last 14 games, the Braves won/lost by no more than two runs difference. I wonder if this is unprecedented.
Ths question will be answered, along with a lot of other related nonsense, on Friday. But just to answer your question directly, the 1968 Twins had 18 games in a row with a one- or two-run difference. May 16-June 3. They were 9-9 in those games.
Thanks JonathanF!
Had to work the bullpen hard last night, so we need some innings from Elder.
It’s BP-off-Elder time. Of course, Lee has been a gas can himself lately, so this won’t get any better. Weiss seems to be the last person to realize that Lee is toast right now.
I hate it when ONIO is right. Since he always expects and predicts the worst, it’s very satisfying when he is wrong. But credit where credit is due–Dylan Lee has not looked good for a few weeks.
After 9 straight scoreless appearances, Dylan Lee’s last 5 appearances: 3 IP, 10 H, 1 BB, 5 ER
Dylan Lee probably needs an IL stint just for a breather so we can get him rested for October.
At least Kerr was able to eat some innings successfully and keep the other relievers from having to pitch.
Yeah Lee could use a break.
Bold prediction: Braves do not lose to the Giants tomorrow.
Bowman says Lee thinks he is tipping his pitches.
I’m really surprised AI hasn’t made this a lot easier for teams to self-scout. Or there aren’t some Rain Man staffers who can pick this up in 2 seconds.
According to AI, Dylan Lee was never the same after he went electric at Gettysburg.
3 runs is not gonna cut it. It’s been several games (win or not) since the Braves scored more than three. Even Olson came up to the plate with the bases loaded (and two outs) and failed to deliver. There was one inning that the Braves struck out three times in a row against Molina.
Farmer is not gonna solve that problem but maybe he will be better than Kim.
Farmer’s value is that he can play anywhere in an emergency, and that nobody cares if he sits on the bench and gets rusty since he is old and about to retire.
Although they haven’t scored more than three in any of their last three games (scoring 3 twice), the Braves have scored 6, 6, 4, and 4 runs in four of their last eight games. They won all four of those games and “only” three of the four in which they scored 3 or fewer, so yes, scoring more is better.
Per ESPN, in August the Braves were 27th in MLB in runs per game but still went 17-11. I agree that they’ll probably need to score more than they did in August to have much of a chance of keeping up that pace, though. I certainly buy your point that two runs is usually not enough, but the team has scored 1 or 2 and won three times in the last 11 games.
recapped