It turned out to be a memorable and wet 4th of July for the Atlanta Braves.
The Atlanta Braves, fresh off a 4-2 road trip, returned home for the Fourth of July to take on the St. Louis Cardinals. The Braves entered the game with a 46-34 record and 3.5 games behind the New York Mets for first place in the NL East. The Cardinals came to town with a 44-37 record and looking to gain ground in a tight NL Central race with the Milwaukee Brewers.
Before the game, they held a great ceremony to commemorate Independence Day in the U.S. They also paid tribute to Casey Motter, the longtime Braves PA announcer who passed away last week. His voice will be missed by everyone in Braves country.
Tonight marks the first @Braves home game without Casey Motter's voice in the ballpark ❤️@TreavorScales, @PeterMoylan and @nickgreen20 reflect on the indelible mark Atlanta's PA announcer left on the organization. pic.twitter.com/n7x1DV7Tmu
— Bally Sports South (@BallySportsSO) July 4, 2022
Also prior to the game, Eddie Rosario and Tyler Matzek were reinstated from the injured list. Rosario got the start in left field and had one hit in his return.
Kyle Wright got the start for the Braves, and he quickly made his presence known to the Cardinal lineup by getting a nine pitch 1-2-3 inning to start the game. The Braves offense also started fast against Dakota Hudson, with Matt Olson driving in Dansby Swanson to make it 1-0 early in the bottom of the first.
The Braves would pile on more runs in the second inning. After Ronald Acuña Jr. drew a two-out RBI walk, Swanson smacked a 3-2 pitch to left center field that cleared the bases to make it 5-0 Atlanta. This was Dansby’s 26th RBI this year with two outs. Matt Olson again would hit an RBI single to score Swanson, giving the Braves a 6-0 lead.
Kyle Wright continued cruising until the top of the fifth inning, allowing only a single run thanks to a sacrifice fly in the fourth inning. The game was put in a rain delay for a little over two and a half hours. Jesse Chavez would begin the fifth following the delay.
Wright’s final line was 4 innings, 3 hits, 1 run (unearned), and 2 strikeouts.
The Cardinals hit two solo home runs off of Jesse in the sixth inning. Darren O’Day and Dylan Lee worked scoreless innings before Will Smith did Will Smith things in the ninth. After walking Paul Goldschmidt to load the bases with one out, he struck out Nolan Arenado and induced a weak ground ball to Albert Pujols to help the Braves win 6-3 early Wednesday morning.
Darren O’Day picked up his second win of the season, while Dakota Hudson lost his fifth game. Dansby Swanson was the biggest offensive performer for the Braves, going 2-for-4 with 3 RBIs.
Atlanta will face St. Louis tonight at 7:20pm. Ian Anderson will look to put his last start behind him as he faces Andre Pallante.