The Braves needed R.A. Dickey to deliver another good start in order to be in a position to pick up another series victory, and he did just that. After giving up one run in the first inning, Dickey and the bullpen kept Milwaukee off the scoreboard for the rest of the game as they cruised to a 3-1 victory.
The first inning of this game would’ve led you to believe that a slugfest was about to breakout once again at SunTrust Park. That would’ve been a bit worrisome for Braves fans since you don’t want to see a knuckleballer get caught up in that type of thing. The good news is that Dickey was able to mitigate the damage in the first inning to just one run and managed to leave runners on second and third to end the inning.
Fortunately, the Braves responded on the first chance that they got. Brandon Phillips got things going with a one-out single and the rally eventually culminated with Tyler Flowers pushing a ground ball through the center of the infield to plate Phillips and tie the game at one.
The two teams remained tied until the bottom of the third inning, which is when the Braves loudly broke the deadlock. Ender Inciarte led off the game with a failed bunt attempt, but he swung away on his next opportunity at the plate and got on base with a single. Brandon Phillips pulled a slider from Matt Garza over the left field fence and into the visitors’ bullpen for a two-run shot that put the Braves in the lead.
Dat Dude BP doing @DatDudeBP things.
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) June 24, 2017
2-run homer to give the @Braves the lead in the 3rd. #MLBonFS1 #MILvsATL pic.twitter.com/AYcwVRhcYz
Now it was up to R.A. Dickey to make the lead stand, and the crafty vet was up to the task. After scoring their only run in the first inning, the Brewers only had three baserunners for the rest of the game and only one of them reached second base. Dickey left the game in the seventh inning with six strikeouts, five hits allowed, and most importantly, only one walk allowed.
If you take out a calamitous inning against the Nationals earlier this month, Dickey has strung together a series of encouraging starts that leads you to believe that he may be starting to bounce back from an overall awful start to his 2017 campaign.
Once Dickey left, it was up to the bullpen to keep the good times rolling and the trio of Jose Ramirez, Sam Freeman, and Jim Johnson did enough to keep the Brewers off of the scoreboard and give the Braves a series victory over the Brewers.
The Braves are now in position to sweep the team that was leading the NL Central going into this weekend. They’re also creeping dangerously close to the .500 mark. Things are getting really interesting around Braves country right now, eh?