The Atlanta Braves and Philadelphia Phillies met for the ninth time this season as Huascar Ynoa and Aaron Nola took the hill for their respective teams in the rubber game of a three-game set.
Coming off a momentous win on Saturday night the Atlanta Braves looked to continue to build on that momentum Sunday.
Saturday’s game featured multiple comebacks by the Braves, coming from behind to extend the game in the 9th and 11th innings before winning the game in the 12th.
Saturday’s dramatic win was the first time the Braves have felt like themselves in the late innings all year. Maybe their come from behind heroics in years past have me spoiled, but I go into every close, late-inning affair expecting the Braves to figure out a way to win.
And I have been disappointed more times than not this year.
But Saturday’s win left me feeling hopeful that I had just witnessed the win that was going to get the Braves on track and propel them up the standings in the NL East.
Fast forward to Sunday and that offensive momentum indeed seemed to have carried over. The Braves got to Aaron Nola early, pushing across four runs in the first inning and giving their young hurler a three-run lead after one.
Huascar Ynoa and the Braves would never look back.
The Atlanta Braves beat the Phillies 6-1 on Sunday night, evening their season record at 17-17.
There were a lot of positives to take away from this game.
Ynoa gave up a run on his first pitch of the game and then held the Phillies right there over the next six innings.
Freddie Freeman looked much more like himself tonight with a pair of singles, a home run, and a walk.
The bullpen was solid, tossing three scoreless innings to ensure Ynoa got the much-deserved win.
And in off-the-field news, the Braves announced they have signed Shane Greene to a one-year deal. Greene will start the year in AAA until he is ready to join the major league team.
The addition of Greene and a returning Chris Martin will give the Braves bullpen some much needed balance from the right side.
All in all, it was a good week for the Braves. Our boys took five of six from the Nationals and Phillies and moved closer to the top of the NL East.
After an off-day Monday, the Braves will welcome in the Blue Jays to Atlanta with revenge on their minds after being swept by Toronto a little over a week ago.
While the Braves have not officially announced their starter for Tuesday it will most likely be Max Fried going for the Braves opposite Robbie Ray for Toronto.
Fried will be looking to build off his solid outing against Washington earlier this week and keeping the Braves momentum going against the Blue Jays. If the past week is any sort of indicator then Braves baseball is about to start being a lot of fun again!