Atlanta Braves Use Big First Inning To Cruise Past Cardinals

The Atlanta Braves and St. Louis Cardinals played game two of a four-game set at Truist Park on Tuesday night.

After celebrating Independence Day with a rain-delayed 6-3 win over the Cardinals in the series opener, the Braves sent a struggling Ian Anderson to the mound for game two.

Ian Anderson’s spot in the rotation has been a hot topic among Braves fans over the past few weeks as Anderson has not pitched up to expectations for much of the 2022 season.

Anderson’s issues have been highlighted further by the emergence of Spencer Strider, the looming trade deadline, and barring a setback, the imminent return of Mike Soroka, leading to speculation about whether Anderson would finish the year as part of the Braves starting rotation.

The Braves’ offense took aim at young Andre Pallante, a 23-year-old righty that has found success at the big league level thus far in his rookie year for St. Louis.  Many times when a pitcher that an offense is not familiar with takes the mound the advantage goes to the pitcher, at least for the first time through the lineup.  That would not be the case on this night.

The Atlanta Braves beat the St. Louis Cardinals on Tuesday night by a 7-1 score.

As they have done for the majority of the season, the Braves provided Ian Anderson with plenty of run support.

Anderson gave up a first-inning run, but Atlanta quickly answered that run with five of their own, highlighted by a pair of two-run home runs, one by Austin Riley, and the other by William Contreras.  The Braves tacked on two more runs in the bottom of the fourth, showing Mr. Pallante the door after just three and two-thirds innings.

Ian Anderson was able to navigate through five innings, giving up just the lone first-inning run.  That being said, it took Anderson 99 pitches to get through those five innings, surrendering eight hits and a walk.

Anderson also gave up multiple hits in three of the five innings he pitched but was able to get the big out when he needed it.  Hopefully, Ian can use Tuesday’s outing as a building block to get himself back to the pitcher that has been so reliable for the Braves in big games the past couple of years.

A big key to the Braves’ success this year has been that each and every night a different guy steps up to help shoulder the offensive load.  Tonight it was Austin Riley who was at the center of the offensive fireworks, going 3-4 with a single, double, and home run and three RBIs.

The Braves bullpen covered the last four innings of the game to preserve Ian Anderson’s win.  The highlight of which was the return of bullpen fixture Tyler Matzek.

Matzek was seeing his first big league action since May 10th against the Boston Red Sox as he entered the game in the eighth inning with the Braves firmly in control 7-1.

As expected, Matzek’s control and velocity were not quite where they have been in the past, but it was good to see Tyler back out there as he works his way back into form after battling shoulder inflammation over the past eight weeks.

The Braves and Cardinals will meet at the same place and at the same time tomorrow as Atlanta looks to win the series outright from St. Louis, with a premium pitching matchup on tap.

Atlanta will send Max Fried to the hill on Wednesday while the Cardinals will counter with Miles Mikolas who will be trying to get St. Louis their first win of the series. First pitch is scheduled at 7:20 pm EST.