Bryse Wilson induced a lot of contact on the ground in the first inning and escaped the first with two hits but no runs. Mitch Keller began his outing by throwing a 93 MPH fastball directly down the middle to Ronald Acuna, who deposited the ball over the left field wall. Freddie followed Ronald with a single of his own and showed off the #wheelz by stealing second. This baserunning paid off, as an Austin Riley hard hit ground ball single up the middle brought Freddie home. Bryse worked around a leadoff walk with two more ground balls for a scoreless second inning. Inciarte hit a grounder the other way for a one out single and there was a scary moment, as Bryse Wilson was hit in the thumb with a ball that was maybe an inch away from his face to put two on with one out going to the top of the order. Acuna struck out, but Freddie singled to bring home Ender and make the score 3-0.
Wilson allowed a solo homer to Michael Perez in the third and allowed a walk, but the homer was the only run. Meanwhile, the Braves offense went down in order. Bryse cruised through the fourth, ending it on a strikeout, and he also provided a two out single in the bottom of the inning. Unfortunately, Acuna just got under a ball for a flyout. Bryse had another smooth 1-2-3 inning in the fifth with a strikeout of Keller. Freddie led off the bottom of the inning with a walk. Ozuna hit a deep fly to the warning track for an out, but Ozzie got the extra 40 feet on his for a two run homer. Riley struck out, but a suddenly hot Dansby hit a deep double. Unfortunately, Contreras grounded out and was unable to bring Swanson home.
In the sixth, Wilson got out without a baserunner on three fly balls, despite one travelling 400 feet with an xBA of .420, and he stayed in to hit in the bottom of the inning, having thrown only 68 pitcher at this point against a bad Pirates lineup. The Braves offense went down in order in the bottom of the sixth, but the lead remained solid at 5-1. Wilson got through two outs, giving up two hits as he gave way to AJ Minter with runners on first and second. Minter promptly struck out Perez, leaving Wilson’s line at 6.2 IP, 1 ER, 5 H, 2 BB, and 4 SO. Freddie led off the home seventh with yet another walk, but he was erased as Ozuna grounded into a double play. With two outs, Ozzie continued to be ridiculous as a righty batter, hitting his second homer of the night. Austin Riley kept up his strong month-plus of performance at the plate with a double cracked down the third baseline. Dansby Swanson was unable to bring Austin home, as he struck out to end the inning.
Tyler Matzek came in for the eighth and issued a leadoff walk. He got a ground ball out from the next batter, a pop-up from the next, allowed a single to Bryan Reynolds, and then struck out Gregory Polanco to end the inning. Inciarte walked and stole second as the only Braves baserunner of the eighth, keeping the lead at 6-1. Luke Jackson came in to protect said lead and he promptly walked the leadoff batter to set up the latest episode of The Luke Jackson Experience. He got a line drive to Ozzie for the first out before allowing another line drive for a hit to set up runners on first and second with one out. Fortunately, Jackson struck out the next batter and got a chopper to end the game.
We’ll be back tomorrow for the final game against the Pirates at 1:20 PM.