The Atlanta Braves look to go into an important series against the Mets with a series sweep against the Washington Nationals Sunday afternoon.
Heading into the All-star spring in a week, the Atlanta Braves are looking to finish off the first half season strong. With the New York Mets coming to town Monday, the most important series for the Braves so far this season, a series sweep against the Nationals would give a lot of momentum for the red-hot Braves.
On the mound for the Braves Sunday afternoon was Ian Anderson, who has not had quite the 2022 season he has hoped for. Anderson was looking to turn it around and build on the solid start he had against the Cardinals last week.
The Nationals got their offense going early in Atlanta knocking two singles with 2 outs in the 1st via Juan Soto and Nelson Cruz. Despite the runners in scoring in position, Anderson was able to extinguish the National’s scoring threat with a ground out to end the inning.
The first two innings were relatively quiet for the Braves offense, tallying a pair of infield hits and a line drive roped into left field for Marcell Ozuna in the 2nd.
The Braves offense broke through in the 3rd inning however, starting with singles from Dansby Swanson, his second of the game, and Matt Olson. Austin Riley followed with a line drive single into center.
Ozuna would follow with a walk, bringing up Eddie Rosario who hit a sacrifice fly to left field bringing the score to 2-0 before National’s starter Paolo Espino was able to get William Contreras to ground out to end the inning.
Ian Anderson would continue his great work with a stress-free 4th and 5th inning only allowing one base runner over those two innings.
Dansby Swanson continued his assault on the Nationals with a lead off ground rule double to left field, his 3rdhit on the day. The Brave’s offense was unable to bring him home despite a sharply hit line drive from Austin Riley which was caught in the infield.
Atlanta finally ran into serious trouble in the 6th innings. After getting Josh Bell to ground out to lead off the 6thinning, Ian Anderson gave up back-to-back walks to Juan Soto and Nelson Cruz. Brian Snitker elected to bring in lefty Dylan Lee to relieve Anderson.
Lee got Nationals catcher Keibert Ruiz to fly out, freezing the runners at second and first. With 2 outs, the Nationalss chose to bring in Lane Thomas to hit for Yadiel Hernandez, which proved to be a great decision for Washington.
Thomas knocked a three-run homerun into left field, giving the Nationals a 3-2 lead. Dylan Lee would follow the homerun by striking out former Brave Ehire Adrianza ending the top of the 6th.
The Braves were unable to answer the Nationals big home run until the top of the 8th, with Austin Riley who responded with a solo homerun of his own, tying the game at 3 a piece. The Braves continued the inning with back-to-back walks for William Contreras and Orlando Arcia, though neither were able to score.
Both teams had very uneventful 9th innings, with a Ronald Acuña Jr. walk being the only base runner. With no team claiming a lead in the 9th, the Sunday afternoon game headed to the 10th for extra innings.
The Nationals led off the 10th with a sacrifice bunt moving the free runner, to third base. Despite having a runner on third with 1 out, a ground out to shortstop and a strike out stranded the runner.
The Atlanta Braves started the 10th inning with Austin Riley at second as their free runner, due to the fact he was the last batted out for the Braves. The Braves would quickly get to two outs without moving Austin Riley at all. Contreras, with 2 outs, knocked a ball up the middle which kicked off the mound and then eventually kicked off Alcides Escobar who was playing second.
Austin Riley who was moving off of contact, rounded third after noticing Escobar was unable to field the ball cleanly and headed home. Escobar quickly recovered and made the throw to home plate throwing out Austin Riley, which ended the inning and kept the tie intact.
Colin Mchugh was brought into relief for Atlanta in the 11th and wasted no time getting through the inning. After intentionally walking Juan Soto, Mchugh rolled a double play to second base via Nelson Cruz. He would follow striking out Keibert Ruiz to end the half inning after showing only 5 pitches.
The bottom of the 11th didn’t see very much offensive production for the Braves outside of a broken bat single to right field for Michael Harris ii.
McHugh continued his work in the 12th inning and executed. After giving up a 1 out infield single that came off of the glove off Dansby Swanson, McHugh forced a fielder’s choice and fly out to end the half inning.
The Braves started the bottom of the 12th with some speed on second with Dansby Swanson. The Nationals intentionally walked Matt Olson brining Austin Riley up with runners on second and first and no outs. After going down 0-2, Austin Riley turned on an inside fast ball and ripped the ball into left field near the foul line giving Dansby Swanson plenty of time to make his way home to secure the Braves win.
After a long 12 inning game, the Braves were finally able to close the gap and secure the series sweep.
Ian Anderson pitched another solid game, giving up 2 earned runs in 5.1 innings. The Braves offense usually supplies Ian Anderson with tons of runs support, so it is refreshing to see them win on a day he starts where the offense only scores 4 runs.
With the win, the Braves season record is now 52-35. The Mets also lost Sunday, bringing New York’s division lead to only 1.5 games over the Braves. With the Mets coming to town Monday, Atlanta has the perfect chance to take the division lead back before the all-star break.
The Braves will play Monday at 7:20 against the Mets in what should be an exciting game. The slated starters are Max Fried and Max Scherzer, which should be one of the best pitching matchups of the season.