Atlanta Braves: Matt Olson Blast Braves Past Philadelphia

The Atlanta Braves and Philadelphia Phillies played the first game of a three-game set at Citizen’s Bank Park on Tuesday night.

The Atlanta Braves started a six-game road trip on Tuesday that included stops in Philadelphia and Cincinnati.  The first stop pitted the Braves against division the division-rival Phillies, and a good pitching matchup between Charlie Morton and Zach Wheeler.

The Braves were dealt a tough blow to their bullpen earlier in the day when Kenley Jansen landed on the fifteen-day injured list with an irregular heartbeat.  With Tyler Matzek still on the mend, the Braves are going to have to shuffle the members of their bullpen into different roles for the foreseeable future.

And as luck would have it, this game would be decided in the late innings by the bullpens, and at least for one game, the back end of the Atlanta bullpen held up.

The Atlanta Braves used a late Matt Olson home run to beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 5-3.

Both Wheeler and Morton got off to shaky starts in this one.  Travis d’Arnaud and Matt Olson hit back-to-back home runs off of Wheeler in the top of the first, staking the Braves to a 2-0 lead.

The Braves also plated their third run in the top of the third courtesy of some good baserunning by Michael Harris II and some clutch hitting by Travis d’Arnaud.

Charlie Morton had issues of his own as he struggled to locate early, walking the lead-off man and giving up two singles despite striking out the side in the bottom of the first as the Phillies plated a run in the inning.   After walking the first two hitters in the third, Morton benefitted from a 9-4 double play that was originally ruled a triple play to help him escape trouble.

Charlie settled down some after the third and battled his way through five and two-thirds inning, giving up seven hits and walking four, but allowing just two runs to score.

The game entered the bottom of the seventh with the Braves clinging to a 3-2 lead when Kyle Schwarber drilled a game-tying home run to center field off of Dylan Lee.

But the game would not stay tied for long as Matt Olson’s second home run of the game in the eighth and an RBI double off the bat of Adam Duvall in the ninth set the Braves up with a two-run lead heading into the ninth with A.J. Minter coming on, looking for his first save since July 14, 2019.

Minter was up to the task on this night, retiring the Phillies in order in the ninth and earning the save.

While Matt Olson was the star of the game with a multi-homer effort there were some other efforts that were critical to securing this win as well.

Michael Harris II’s baserunning in the third inning, tagging from first to second on a deep fly ball to right field allowed the Braves a third run off of Wheeler.

With questions in the bullpen, Collin McHugh served as a dominant bridge from Dylan Lee to A.J. Minter.  There is little doubt that with Jansen now on the shelf that the Braves are going to rely more heavily on McHugh in the immediate future.

Orlando Arcia continues to do an admirable job filling in at second base for Ozzie Albies, both at the plate and in the field, really highlighting the importance of a deep bench, even in this designated hitter version of the National League.

The Braves will look to win the series outright tomorrow night as they send Kyle Wright to the mound.  The Phillies will counter with lefty, Ranger Suarez, who has settled in nicely as the Phillies’ number three starter, behind Nola and Wheeler this season.  First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 pm EST.