Braves Win Behind Matt Wisler
By Fred Owens
Jul 26, 2015; St. Louis, MO, USA; Atlanta Braves right fielder Adonis Garcia (24) follows through as he watches his home run ball during the sixth inning against the St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium. The Braves won 3-2. Mandatory Credit: Scott Kane-USA TODAY Sports
It’s my lead you can’t have it
Wong doubled to start the fifth and Holliday followed that with a one out double to score Wong and tie the game. The Cards lead lasted until the second pitch of the sixth when Garcia hit his first major league homer just ove the glove of a leaping Heyward into the Cardinal bullpen.
Wisler got into a small jam in the bottom of the sixth but turned a bunt popup into a double play to end the inning. On the day Wisler went seven strong innings throwing 100 pitches – 68 for strikes – while allowing two runs on seven hits walking three and striking out three.
The Braves mounted small challenges in the eighth and ninth but couldn’t push a run across. Arodys Vizcaino pitched a quiet eighth and Jim Johnson came on to get the save.
That’s A Wrap
Anytime we can celebrate a Braves win it’s a good day and we should take time to enjoy some of the bright spots.
Yesterday the Braves got a superb, dominant pitching performance from Shelby Miller.
The Braves got another well pitched game from Wisler whose demeanor on the mound and some of his mannerisms reminded me of Tom Glavine. Wisler’s win gives him the same W/L record as Shelby Miller who must wonder who he has to bribe to get a couple of runs of support.
Garcia now has a couple of hits since arriving, his first hit – a single – and today’s homer both resulted in runs. He’s also made a couple of very nice plays at third and appears to be Fredi Gonzalez favorite at that spot now.
Eury Perez continues to show off a strong accurate arm and play solid defense as well as hitting better than I expected.
Vizcaino looks ready to take JJ’s spot if he gets traded this week which appears almost a certainty.
Lavarnway looks a lot better behind the plate than his metrics and scouting reports show although he runs like he’s carry Freddie. He looks ready to step in should A.J. Pierzynski be traded as well
On the question of the replay all I’ll say is that the idea of the replay was to prevent arguments and get the call right. It was not supposed to slow the game down. I don’t care which way the call goes after review, if it takes five minutes to decided whether the call stands or not, the call should stand.
Let us know what you think about today’s game and the call. We’ll be listening here at the Take