Atlanta Braves Outlast Boston Red Sox in 11 Innings

The Atlanta Braves and Boston Red Sox started a two-game set at Fenway Park on Tuesday night.

After an off day on Monday, the Atlanta Braves arrived in Boston looking to put the series that just concluded in New York behind them and get back to their winning ways at the expense of the last-place Boston Red Sox.

The Red Sox are not your typical last-place team though.  They have the unenvious task of playing in the AL East and entered Tuesday’s contest with a 54-56 record.

Tuesday’s tilt featured a pair of veteran pitchers as Boston sent Rich Hill and his career 5-0 record against the Atlanta Braves to the mound against Braves righty, Charlie Morton.

The Braves offense got off to a hot start in Boston, highlighted by an RBI triple and a two-run home run off the bat of Austin Riley, in the first and third innings respectively.

Unfortunately, after a clean first inning, Morton gave up at least one run in the next four innings, allowing Boston to take a 5-4 lead heading into the sixth.

The Braves were able to tie the game at five in the top of the sixth, thanks to a clutch two-out double by Michael Harris II.  Morton bookended his scoreless first inning with a scoreless sixth and the game would head into the seventh inning in a 5-5 deadlock.

The Braves and Red Sox each scratched out a run in the eighth inning behind some clutch hitting from Dansby Swanson and JD Martinez, as neither team seemed to be able to seize the momentum for long in this back-and-forth affair.

The Braves took yet another lead in the top of the tenth when Orlando Arcia laced a one-out single into left field.  The hit would have been a double on most nights but Arcia seemed to pull a hamstring between first and second base, costing the Braves the second out of the inning and erasing a very important potential insurance run.

With Kenley Jansen, Rasiel Iglesias, and A.J. Minter already spent, the Braves turned to Dylan Lee to try to strand Boston’s ghost runner and lock down the save.  But a 40-foot infield single and a sacrifice fly would earn Boston yet another tie with just one out in the tenth and the winning run on first.  Lee held Boston right there as the game continued on into the eleventh.

The Braves were finally able to put up a crooked number in the top of the eleventh behind the bat of Austin Riley and the speed and baserunning acumen of Ronald Acuna, Jr.  With runners on second and third and one out Riley lined a base hit into left field.  Harris II scored easily from third but Acuna was only safe because of a beautiful slide towards the front of home plate, keeping him out of the reach of the catcher and extending the Braves’ lead to 9-7.

Tyler Matzek nailed down the save in the bottom of the eleventh and the Braves earned a hard-fought and much-needed victory.

The Atlanta Braves beat the Boston Red Sox 9-7 in eleven innings.

From the third inning on this felt like one of those games that whoever came up to hit last was going to win it.  But Tyler Matzek was having none of that.

In a season marred by inconsistency, Matzek pitched what might have been his most important inning of the 2022 season to date.  Let’s not kid ourselves into thinking Matzek went through three offensive juggernauts in the bottom of the eleventh, but he did work a 1-2-3 inning with two strikeouts in a game the Braves absolutely had to have.

Austin Riley continued to make his case for National League MVP consideration.  Riley went 3-6 with a single, a triple, a home run, and 5 RBIs.

The injury bug bit the Braves once again as Orlando Arcia, who was filling in for an injured Ozzie Albies, had to be helped off the field in the tenth inning.  It will be interesting to see what moves Alex Anthopolous makes to fill the void that the Arcia injury has left.  Here is to wishing Orlando a speedy recovery.

The Braves will go for a sweep tomorrow when they wrap up this short two-game series against the Red Sox.  The Braves will send Kyle Wright to the mound in search of his 14th win of the season and Boston will counter with Nick Pivetta.  First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 pm EST.