The Braves have been getting more national coverage lately, and today put them up against the Brewers on Fox Sports 1. They did not disappoint.
Over the first pair of games in this series, the Atlanta Braves have punched runs across in the first inning, only to see them fail to either hold or to build on those early leads.
Today – the third contest of this 4-bagger series – was different.
It didn’t necessarily feel like that would be the case, though. During today’s 2-run first inning, there was still that nagging feeling of leaving fruit on the vine as Tyler Flowers and Dansby Swanson both made outs to leave the bases loaded after seeing 5 straight Braves reach base.
That feeling was magnified as the Brewers came to bat when Anibal Sanchez yielded a single, infield out (that moved the runner over), and a hit batsman. Two on, 1 out… we’ve seen this movie before.
But then Sanchez got out of the jam, leaving runners at first and third.
And then he truly settled in:
- Inning 2: 1-2-3, 2 strikeouts.
- Inning 3: 1-2-3, 3 strikeouts.
- Inning 4: 1-2-3, 1 strikeout.
- Inning 5: 1-2-3, 1 strikeout.
- Inning 6: 1-2-3.
In total, Anibal Sanchez retired 19 straight Brewers’ hitters. Milwaukee finally plated a run on the combination of a walk, stolen base, and a single. 2 hits overall, the lone walk, and 8 strikeouts.
In truth, Sanchez has been invaluable to the Braves this season – not just for outings like this one (his best of the year), but also for his teaching and mentoring of other pitchers. But today really was a time for him to shine. His game score today? 73. That’ll play.
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In the meantime, the offense didn’t ultimate demand that Sanchez take only that pair of quick runs and protect them – though he did anyway. In the 8th inning, an unusual outburst got the Braves 3 more runs that allowed the bullpen to relax.
Unusual? Well, when you hear “back-to-back triples”, you’d probably figure that Inciarte and Albies pulled that trick… except that this feat was actually from the bats of Freddie Freeman and Nick Markakis.
No – not kidding.
Freeman finished the day a homer short of his second career cycle (it’s hard to “waste” these triples like that) while scoring twice and knocking in another run. He also walked in 5 trips to the plate and a nice day that suggests his “slump” may be getting behind him.
Relievers Dan Winkler, Arodys Vizcaino and A.J. Minter mopped up after Sanchez departed late in the 7th. The latter pair gave up 2 inconsequential hits, and Minter struck out 3 (not quite his 5th save, as the lead was 4 runs).
Every Brewers starter – save for Travis Shaw – struck out at least once: 11 overall.
So it was finally another win as the Braves tallied their 50th win in 2018 on their 5th attempt to get it. They remain tied atop the NL East with the Philadelphia Phillies, who beat the Pirates this afternoon.
As of this writing, the Nationals have just started their game hosting the Marlins.
Next: Here's an idea for the bullpen...
SUNDAY AFTERNOON, it’s a 2:10PM start: Sean Newcomb (8-3, 3.10) and Junior Guerra (5-5, 2.87)… then back home again with an off-day before the Blue Jays hit Atlanta… hopefully with multiple All-Star starter announcements!
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