Atlanta Braves Lose to Phillies But Win Series
By Fred Owens
The second half
Reid Brignac pinch hit foe Kelly in the sixth and had a great at bat against Jerad Eickhoff, fouling off pitch after pitch before finally striking out. Smith followed with a two strike single up the middle and went to second when Eickhoff balked.
Inciarte moved smith to third with an infield ground ball and Chase d’Arnaud walked but Freeman ended the inning by scorching a line drive to Joseph at first.
Eric O’Flaherty came in to pitch the 6th for the Braves and got the first two batters easily then back to back singles bay Herrera and Hernandez put runners on the corners for Franco and brought Alexi Ogando in to pitch to him.
Franco hit a 3-1 pitch to center scoring both runners but was thrown out trying to advance to second base to end the inning.
With two out in the seventh A.J. Pierzynski singled and Daniel Castro followed with a single to left but both were stranded when pinch hitter Kelly Johnson grounded out to Joseph at first,
Ian Krol gave up two singles but escaped without allowing a run in the bottom half and an Inciarte single was all the Braves could muster in the top of the eighth.
Krol was still on the bump n the bottom half of the eighth and gave up a leadoff single to Peter Bourjos. Herrera hit a screaming line drive directly at Krol’s head but his quick reflexes saved him and turned it into a double play and Hernandez struck out to end the inning.
The Phillies closer Jeanmar Gomez came on for the ninth and made quick work of Markakis, Gordon Beckham and Pierzynski.
The Good and The Bad
Good: AJ caught three popups without error, no one got hurt and tomorrow is an off day.
Bad: Starting pitching, hitting with RISP. This was a wasted game for the Braves, after winning the series last night they were quickly behind and looked flat today. Kelly looked well out of his depth and I suspect he’s already been given a ticket back to Gwinnett.
Next: In Summary