One unfortunate, and unfortunately recurring theme for the Braves this season has been a smattering of innings where the infield defense melted down, kicking both the ball and the game away. Tonight, though, Dansby Swanson and Johan Camargo combined to about-face this trend, flashing the leather to bail out the bullpen and preserve a win over the Brewers in the series opener.
The early parts of this game were played under the threat, and the under the impact, of serious rain. The Braves wasted no time getting on the board: Brandon Phillips creamed Milwaukee starter Jimmy Nelson’s fourth pitch over the wall in right center for a quick 1-0 advantage. Nick Markakis then drew a four-pitch walk and advanced to third on a Matt Adams liner into center, scoring as Tyler Flowers reached on a fielder’s choice where no out was recorded due to an error at the second base bag. The next two Braves made outs, but the Braves finished the frame with a 2-0 lead.
Mike Foltynewicz, making his 14th start of the year, was quite wild, but effectively so. Flowers also aided him with some excellent framing, as did some quite puzzling calls by the umpire. But, the important thing is that Foltynewicz mostly kept the Brewers off the board while racking up strikeouts. He fanned two in the first, two in the second, two in the third, two in the fourth, and just one in the fifth, at that point pitching in a downpour. The lone run he allowed was on a solo shot to Keon Broxton. However, three walks and deep counts pushed his pitch count quite high, and he was done after the very rainy fifth. His final line: five innings, four hits, the solo home run, three walks, and nine strikeouts.
After that rough first, Nelson settled in and also got the strikeouts working. He struck out two Braves each in the second, third, and fourth. However, the Braves got to him again in the fifth, courtesy of an Ender Inciarte leadoff single, an RBI double from Phillips into the opposite field gap, and then a two-out seeing-eye groundball single from Flowers that rolled into right field. While Nelson was able to finish the fifth, that was it for him. He left having allowed four runs on six hits and and three walks while striking out eight.
Jason Motte threw a scoreless sixth, but then things got a little dicey for the Atlanta relief corps. With the bullpen fatigued, Brian Snitker tapped Sam Freeman to pitch the seventh in a three-run game. Freeman struck out the first batter he faced, but then hit Eric Sogard with a pitch. Sogard moved to second on a groundout, stole third, and scored on a grounder up the middle by Domingo Santana. Freeman was able to bounce back and strike out Travis Shaw on three pitches to end the threat.
In the bottom of the seventh, a two-out rally got that run right back. Flowers singled again, moved to third on an error by Eric Thames at first base, and scored on Dansby Swanson’s single to give the Braves another three-run cushion. They’d need those runs, because Jose Ramirez experienced a bit of a meltdown in the eighth. Ramirez walked two of the first three batters he faced before allowing a rocket double into the left-field corner off the bat of Orlando Arcia that scored both runners. After hitting the next batter with a pitch, Ramirez got into a favorable 0-2 count against pinch-hitter Jesus Aguilar.
Unfortunately, Aguilar was able to lace a hot smash down the third-base line on the very next pitch. But, very fortunately, Johan Camargo was able to transmute a potential tragedy into a windfall with a stellar bit of fielding, making a great backhand snag, firing to second base for the first out, with plenty of time for the relay to retire Aguilar at first base. The lead was preserved... for the time being.
The ninth was filled with more momentary trepidation. Arodys Vizcaino came on for the save and promptly allowed a double to Thames that rattled around the right field corner. Domingo Santana hit a grounder that seemed like it was going to push the tying run to third with one out... but again, the infield defense came through. Swanson fielded the ball and fired it to Camargo at third to cut down Thames, effectively pushing the tying run back a base. After a flyout, Vizcaino got a liner to short, and Dansby dove to snag it in front of him, ending the game. He was quite fired up with the result:
#GotEm pic.twitter.com/04kOgeQar3
— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) June 24, 2017
The Braves are now just three games under .500. Brandon Phillips, Tyler Flowers, and Dansby Swanson each had two hits, and have all hit well in June. After this game, Phillips will have a wRC+ of 109, and a wRC+ in the 120s for the month, while Swanson is climbing above a 110 wRC+ mark for the month despite a still-very-ugly (65 wRC+) seasonal line.
R.A. Dickey will face Matt Garza in the middle game of the series — that’s a 4:10 start as it is a Fox Sports One game.
Seriously, this was a wacky strike zone, courtesy of Tyler Flowers, the home plate umpire, or some mix of both.