Atlanta Braves: a Pyrrhic victory Wednesday night?

The Braves beat the Phillies again Wednesday night to take the series…but at a cost that could be very steep down the road.

Before the Atlanta Braves even got started against the Phillies in the rubber match of the series, they were very active in roster moves. For starters, Atlanta signed veteran Jose Bautista to a minor league deal to play third base. He reported to the Braves extended spring training camp early this morning.

The Braves then placed Jose Ramirez on the 10 day DL with right shoulder inflammation after two horrid appearances from the bullpen. They replaced him with reliever Jesse Biddle.

Then, we receive the unfortunate news that Anibal Sanchez hurt his hamstring during running drills and was placed on the DL.

In a corresponding move the Braves activated Johan Camargo from the DL after he has slowly gotten on track after tweaking his lat muscle in spring training.

And then there was a Game

This was a pitchers duel between Brandon McCarthy and Vincent Velasquez until the fifth inning. McCarthy was greatly helped by two clutch double plays and probably the catch of the year so far for Atlanta by Ender Inciarte.

[ Ed. note:  the best thing about this catch?  That guy in the stands with his hands out to welcome a home run ball was wearing a Phillies’ jersey. No ball for you! ]

In the top of the fifth inning the Phillies got on the board first when Velasquez decided to help himself with a two out single to center, scoring battery mate Andrew Knapp.

Not wasting any time, the Braves answered in the bottom of the fifth. After a walk to Preston Tucker and a single to left by Dansby Swanson, Ryan Flaherty stepped up to the plate with two on and no outs…

With that 3-run blast, Ryan Flaherty is definitely making the Phillies regret not giving him a place on the team.

Later, Swanson decided to join in on the action in the seventh inning with a blast of his own.

When the Crowed Cowed

You could have heard a pin drop in SunTrust Park when Freddie Freeman took a fastball by AJ Milner to the same wrist that caused him to miss significant time last year.

[Ed. note – from all appearances, he was hit in the same place that Aaron Loup got him last year.  That shattered a bone that caused Freeman to miss 7 weeks.  There is some optimism about the injury this time, but a final determination on the extent of the injury awaits a further examination this morning.]

Atlanta did go on to add three more runs in that inning to bring them to seven runs on the night. A.J. Minter came on to close out the game in the top of the ninth with his team up 7-2. After struggling early with his command, allowing one run to score on an Altherr RBI double, he got the last three batters out.

Whats Next

With the win the Braves move to 10-7 and tied for second in the NL East with the Phillies. They are three games behind the 13-4 Mets who come to Atlanta Thursday for a four game series.

Next: Reinventing Joey?

Here are the projected starters and start times:

• Thur, April 19th, 7:35 ET- TBD (probably Wisler or Sims… or both) v. Harvey (0-1, 4.80 ERA)
• Fri, April 20th, 7:35 ET- Newcome (1-1, 4.02 ERA) v. Syndergaard (2-0, 2.95 ERA)
• Sat, April 21st, 7:10 ET- Teheran (1-1, 5.40 ERA) v. deGrom (2-0, 3.24 ERA)
• Sun, April 22nd, 1:35 ET- Foltynewicz (1-1, 2.53 ERA) v. Wheeler (1-1, 2.77 ERA)