For close to two months, whatever could go wrong went horribly wrong for the Atlanta Braves. The offense would show up, only for the starting pitcher to go three innings while allowing eight runs. The rotation would hold up, only for the bats to go silent. And on the off chance those two things proved symbiotic, a depleted bullpen failed to finish the job.
It all led to a 10.5-game lead in the NL East nearly vanishing in record time, but Friday night’s victory over the Orioles — Atlanta’s sixth in their last eight games to begin the second half — is the kind of win that only happens when everything is clicking.
Grant Holmes turned in a very Grant Holmes type of outing. It wasn’t sexy, there was a lot of traffic on the basepaths, and he surrendered three runs over five innings, but it was enough to keep the Braves in the game.
The scoring began for Atlanta in the fourth inning. A Michael Harris II double put runners on second and third, and both came home on a sacrifice fly and a critical two-out base knock from Austin Riley — one of his two hits on the night, as he continues to look like a much different player over the last few weeks.
The Orioles retook the lead in the bottom half of the frame, though, and it stayed that way until the eighth, when Drake Baldwin stepped to the plate and tied the game with his 20th home run of the season.
As has been the case on most nights recently, the Braves didn’t have their full allotment of relievers, which forced Walt Weiss to turn to Elieser Hernandez — a 31-year-old making his season debut for the club. It wasn’t always clean, as he gave up three free passes. But he went on to pitch a scoreless seventh, eighth, and ninth to send the game to extras.
That’s where things got really spicy. An error from Jackson Holliday gave the Braves the lead and a chance to blow the game open — one they looked like they’d waste after their top of the lineup came up empty. Drake Baldwin and Ozzie Albies struck out for the first two outs of the inning, before Matt Olson put the game to bed with a majestic three-run blast over the right-center field fence.
In truth, the game wasn’t quite as over as it should have been. Dylan Lee came on for the tenth and allowed three to cross the plate, bringing the tying run to the plate. But a strikeout finished the job, giving the Braves their third straight win and some more breathing room in the NL East.
With a Phillies loss to the Yankees last night, the Braves’ division lead is now up to 5.5 games. And things should look even better for Atlanta in the near future, with the likes of Ronald Acuña Jr., Sean Murphy, AJ Smith-Shawver, and Robert Suarez all returning from the Injured List.
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(Photo by Dustin Bradford/Icon Sportswire)