The Atlanta Braves were back at it on Saturday afternoon to do battle with the Phillies, but things did not go their way as they took their second consecutive loss to open the 2019 campaign.
In the early going things were looking quite good for the Braves chances as Ender Inciarte led off the game with a triple, and was then brought home on a Freddie Freeman RBI single to give Atlanta an early 1-0 lead. Bryse Wilson had a scoreless first inning and things were rolling.
Then, in the second inning, the Braves tacked on two more runs thanks to a two-run blast by Dansby Swanson off of Nick Pivetta after a Tyler Flowers single to left. With the Braves up 3-0 Wilson went back to work in the bottom of the second.
As Wilson made his way into the bottom half of the Phillies lineup, he began to run into some trouble starting with a Rhys Hoskins double to lead off the inning. With a runner on second J.T. Realmuto then singled on a slow roller to center field that allowed Hoskins enough time to score and cut the lead to 3-1. Thankfully, the Phillies decided to send their catcher early in the next at-bat and Tyler Flowers was able to throw him out rather easily and after that Wilson settled down to end the inning with no more damage.
Action then died down a bit over the next inning and a half before Philadelphia took their first lead in the bottom of the fourth, chasing Wilson from the game. After a strikeout of Realmuto to open the inning, Odubel Herrera walked and was immediately brought around in the next at-bat after Cesar Hernandez struck a ball over the infield which trickled it’s way all the way to the wall in right field for a triple with Nick Markakis shading Hernandez well into right center. After the run scoring triple Maikel Franco then unloaded on the next pitch for a deep drive over the left field wall to give the Phillies a 4-3 lead.
Wes Parson entered in relief of Wilson who was able to go 3.1 innings striking out three batters, but walking four. Wilson did not have his normally sharp command todayand paid the price for it.
The Phillies could add no more in the fourth as Parsons cleaned things up quickly, but it wouldn’t take them long to add on more.
Atlanta was able to come right back in the top of the fifth inning and clear Wilson from taking the loss after Freeman singled home Inciarte to tie the game at 4 momentarily while also forcing Pivetta from the game.
Parsons’ second trip out to the mound in the fifth inning was not kind to him. The inning started out promising after Parsons was able to strike out Jean Segura swinging and got Bryce Harper to fly out to left field, but the Phillies quick strike offense struck as a Hoskins walk was followed up by a Realmuto homer to make the score 6-4.
The Braves had nothing going on the offensive end after their hot start as Adam Morgan, Juan Nicasio, Jose Alvarez, and Pat Neshek mowed through the Atlanta order over the next two innings.
Philly added on in the bottom of the seventh off of Bryce Harper’s first Philadelphia home run that made the score 7-4, and tacked on their eighth and final run in the bottom of the eighth after Freeman bobbled a pop up along the right field line allowing Hernandez to score.
Atlanta attempted to make the comeback late as they got two quick runs in the top of the ninth off of a Dansby Swanson walk and Charlie Culberson line drive home run to left. However, David Robertson was able to work through it and the Phillies sealed a two run win.
Freddie Freeman did collect a four hit game today with a double to left in the top of the ninth and was outstanding, but the rest of the team could not find their way on base.
The Braves did not have great success against the Phillies bullpen who allowed just one hit (Culberson’s home run) and four walks over 5.1 innings. On the pitching side Wilson did not do all that bad in his start, but the bullpen was atrocious yet again as they allowed four runs over 6.2 innings.
Atlanta will be back in action tomorrow for one last matchup with the Phillies as Kyle Wright takes the mound for the first time in 2019. Stay tuned.
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