The Braves secured their 90th win of the season on Friday night by once again blasting Philadelphia pitching. The victory snapped a two-game skid for the Braves, while pushing Philadelphia’s losing streak to nine games. After beginning a series with Atlanta last week where the Phillies were still very much alive in the postseason chase, tonight’s defeat guarantees that the Fightins will finish with a sub-.500 record for the sixth consecutive season.
This game featured a lot of Braves offense — 19 hits and three walks, to be exact. But, it didn’t quite start out that way. Jerad Eickhoff started for the Phillies for the first time this season, and his return to the mound was initially very successful. Despite allowing a two-out double in the first and then two consecutive hits to put runners on second and third with none out in the second, Eickhoff started his night with three scoreless frames and seven strikeouts. He collected one more punchout to start the fourth, giving him seven in a row... but his good run ended right there. First, Johan Camargo hooked a hanging curveball over the right-field fence for his 19th homer of the year, giving the Braves a 1-0 lead. Ozzie Albies then singled, and just like that, Eickhoff was lifted from the game.
The Phillies inserted Edubray Ramos into the game, and that did not turn out all too well. Ramos walked Tyler Flowers on four pitches, and then a passed ball put both runners in scoring position. Charlie Culberson then hit a liner back up the middle that narrowly missed Ramos’ hand and glove, scoring both runners. Later in the inning, Ronald Acuña Jr. singled up the middle, and by the time the game went to the bottom of the fourth, it was 4-0 in favor of the Braves.
Mike Foltynewicz was matching Eickhoff pitch-for-pitch, but did not suffer his fate. Much like he did in the Braves’ division-clinching game last Saturday, the man they call Folty dominated the Philadelphia lineup. He struck out the side in the first, struck out two more in the second, and then collected another pair of whiffs in the third. The Phillies tagged him for a run in the fourth thanks to a hit-by-pitch and an Odubel Herrera double, but Foltynewicz stranded Herrera and then got two more strikeouts in the bottom of the fifth. He ended his final tune-up before Game 1 of the Division Series with five innings of one hit, one-run ball, tallying a gladdening zero walks and nine strikeouts.
The Braves and Phillies exchanged zeroes in the fifth and sixth before Atlanta’s offense broke the game open. Jesse Biddle and Brad Brach pitched scoreless frames for the Braves; the Phillies ended up using eight pitchers in this game (including four who recorded just one out) for some reason. In the seventh, the Braves got their fifth run when Ozzie Albies hit a two-out grounder with men on the corners and was able to reach safely as first baseman Justin Bour was unable to snag a bounced throw from shortstop Scott Kingery. Three more runs came across in the eighth, thanks to an Ender Inciarte single and a Freddie Freeman two-run double. Then, the Braves scored twice more in the ninth, with Acuña and Freeman collecting RBI singles. Chad Sobotka pitched a scoreless inning of his own in the bottom of the eighth, though he did yield a hit and a walk.
If there was one blemish on this game for the Braves, it was that Arodys Vizcaino came in and couldn’t manage a clean inning despite holding a nine-run lead. He allowed a towering one-out homer to Rhys Hoskins, and then another hit and two walks, getting pulled with two outs and the bases loaded in an eight run game. Sam Freeman came out and struck out Roman Quinn to seal the victory, but that kind of inability to throw strikes against a pretty lifeless offense probably doesn’t make the Braves feel good about their relief options going into the playoffs.
I’m sure all sorts of offensive items of note happened in today’s game, but the ones that stand out to me are:
- Freddie Freeman had three doubles for the second time this season. It was also his third four-hit game of his career; the other two also came this season.
- Ronald Acuña Jr. and Johan Camargo both collected three hits.
- Nearly every member of the lineup reached base twice, as did the pitcher’s spot: Rio Ruiz collected his first hit of the year as a pinch-hitter, and Preston Tucker notched a pinch-hit knock of his own later. The lone exception was Nick Markakis, who went 0-for-5 with two strikeouts in a game where his teammates amassed 27 total bases.
- The Braves struck out 13 times in the game, which is kind of odd given how many times they reached base. Makes you wonder what the last time a team had 13+ strikeouts and 19+ hits in the same nine-inning game was.
This game also featured Rhys Hoskins swinging at (and making a routine groundball out) in a 3-0 count when down by many runs, and him missing a diving catch attempt later in the game. You kind of just feel bad for the Phillies at this point, or at least I do. Also, why do the Phillies keep putting Luis Garcia into games?
The Braves and Phillies continue their series tomorrow, with Aaron Nola set to face Anibal Sanchez.