<img alt="Los Angeles Dodgers v Atlanta Braves" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/geCJVWCPulTxvKyoTx_SuMMMwFE=/0x0:7376x4917/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73586361/2171252099.0.jpg">
Photo by Matthew Grimes Jr./Atlanta Braves/Getty Images
The Braves scored ten without a homer and coasted to a victory after flattening Jack Flaherty Not surprising: Chris Sale was Chris Sale on Saturday night, largely cruising through the Los Angeles lineup. More surprising: the Braves scored ten runs, and did so without the aid of a homer. A sizable lead early became a laugher late, and the Dodgers used position players to pitch both the seventh and eighth, as the Braves pulled back into a tie for the final Wild Card spot in the NL.
Early on, it didn’t seem like this one was going to be a laugher, in part because the ball just ain’t flyin’, and partly because Chris Sale wasn’t having the easiest time ever. He started the game with a walk of Shohei Ohtani, got a double play ball, and then gave up a barreled double to Teoscar Hernandez. Fortunately for Sale and the Braves, though, Hernandez inexplicably decided to try and stretch it into a triple, and got gunned down for his efforts, letting the inning right then and there.
Meanwhile, Jack Flaherty looked shaky from the get-go, and only got worse from there. After a leadoff single and two strikeouts, Matt Olson lofted a ball off the wall in right to give the Braves a 1-0 lead; the ball wasn’t hit that hard but the dimensions were favorable to Olson and the Braves here. Flaherty then walked Sean Murphy and threw a fastball that Jarred Kelenic hit very, very hard... but way too high for it to be anything but a flyout.
Sale then had a quick second, except for a weird four-pitch walk with two outs — though he was aided by the baseball having no oomph these days, as Will Smith had a barreled out to center. The Braves stranded a two-out double in the bottom of the frame, and then the Dodgers tied the game off Sale with a one-out gapper double by Enrique Hernandez, and a bloop two-out single into center by Mookie Betts.
The third was when the flattening of Flaherty happened in earnest. Jorge Soler started the frame with a barreled ball that Betts probably should’ve caught, but didn’t. After a walk and a strikeout, Murphy smashed a ball that unfortunately went right to Miguel Rojas at short. It resulted in an out, but not in a double play, as the ball ended up bowling Rojas over. After another walk loaded the bases, Orlando Arcia got a fastball on the outer third of the zone and hit it into the right-center gap to score three. Sale then threw a shutdown frame, and the game felt more or less over at this point.
Flaherty gave way after three innings to Alex Vesia, who had few troubles in his two innings of work. But, the same stayed true for Sale as well, as he never really let the Dodgers threaten. He finished his night with a 6/2 K/BB ratio in six frames, which will actually raise his FIP and xFIP.
Evan Phillips came in for the bottom of the sixth, and the Braves put the game more or less out of reach. Arcia walked, Gio Urshela looped a double into the right-field corner, Merrifield blooped an RBI single, Michael Harris II hit a sac fly, Soler hit a ball so hard it went through Max Muncy at third base for a double, Ozuna walked... and then the Dodgers brought in Ryan Brasier, whom the Braves promptly lit (sorry) with a soft liner double down the right-field line by Matt Olson, unclearing the bases once again. A sac fly by Murphy capped the scoring at 10-1.
And that really was it. The Dodgers used two position players to shut the Braves down in the seventh and eighth — Adam Duvall actually took one of them out of the park, but Chris Taylor made a great robbery of the ball to prevent the Braves from notching a homer. Meanwhile, Grant Holmes, Aaron Bummer, and Luke Jackson finished out the game, which at this point was only darkly funny because the Braves still think that Bummer and his 1.2 fWAR coming into this game make sense to be deployed in a nine-run game after the other team has already signaled it’s given up.
Of note: this game featured five barrels — three outs, two doubles, and one of the doubles probably should’ve been caught. The Braves still somehow scored ten runs. Weird stuff.
Anyway, the Mets lost, the Brewers are crushing the Diamondbacks like the latter accidentally selected the wrong difficulty setting and this isn’t a game that lets you change it without starting over, and there’s a chance the Padres might lose (though they lead 2-0 at the time of writing), so this has a chance to be a productive day in the standings. The Braves will try to take the series as Charlie Morton faces off against Walker Buehler tomorrow night.
<img alt="Los Angeles Dodgers v Atlanta Braves" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/geCJVWCPulTxvKyoTx_SuMMMwFE=/0x0:7376x4917/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73586361/2171252099.0.jpg">
Photo by Matthew Grimes Jr./Atlanta Braves/Getty Images
The Braves scored ten without a homer and coasted to a victory after flattening Jack Flaherty Not surprising: Chris Sale was Chris Sale on Saturday night, largely cruising through the Los Angeles lineup. More surprising: the Braves scored ten runs, and did so without the aid of a homer. A sizable lead early became a laugher late, and the Dodgers used position players to pitch both the seventh and eighth, as the Braves pulled back into a tie for the final Wild Card spot in the NL.
Early on, it didn’t seem like this one was going to be a laugher, in part because the ball just ain’t flyin’, and partly because Chris Sale wasn’t having the easiest time ever. He started the game with a walk of Shohei Ohtani, got a double play ball, and then gave up a barreled double to Teoscar Hernandez. Fortunately for Sale and the Braves, though, Hernandez inexplicably decided to try and stretch it into a triple, and got gunned down for his efforts, letting the inning right then and there.
Meanwhile, Jack Flaherty looked shaky from the get-go, and only got worse from there. After a leadoff single and two strikeouts, Matt Olson lofted a ball off the wall in right to give the Braves a 1-0 lead; the ball wasn’t hit that hard but the dimensions were favorable to Olson and the Braves here. Flaherty then walked Sean Murphy and threw a fastball that Jarred Kelenic hit very, very hard... but way too high for it to be anything but a flyout.
Sale then had a quick second, except for a weird four-pitch walk with two outs — though he was aided by the baseball having no oomph these days, as Will Smith had a barreled out to center. The Braves stranded a two-out double in the bottom of the frame, and then the Dodgers tied the game off Sale with a one-out gapper double by Enrique Hernandez, and a bloop two-out single into center by Mookie Betts.
The third was when the flattening of Flaherty happened in earnest. Jorge Soler started the frame with a barreled ball that Betts probably should’ve caught, but didn’t. After a walk and a strikeout, Murphy smashed a ball that unfortunately went right to Miguel Rojas at short. It resulted in an out, but not in a double play, as the ball ended up bowling Rojas over. After another walk loaded the bases, Orlando Arcia got a fastball on the outer third of the zone and hit it into the right-center gap to score three. Sale then threw a shutdown frame, and the game felt more or less over at this point.
Flaherty gave way after three innings to Alex Vesia, who had few troubles in his two innings of work. But, the same stayed true for Sale as well, as he never really let the Dodgers threaten. He finished his night with a 6/2 K/BB ratio in six frames, which will actually raise his FIP and xFIP.
Evan Phillips came in for the bottom of the sixth, and the Braves put the game more or less out of reach. Arcia walked, Gio Urshela looped a double into the right-field corner, Merrifield blooped an RBI single, Michael Harris II hit a sac fly, Soler hit a ball so hard it went through Max Muncy at third base for a double, Ozuna walked... and then the Dodgers brought in Ryan Brasier, whom the Braves promptly lit (sorry) with a soft liner double down the right-field line by Matt Olson, unclearing the bases once again. A sac fly by Murphy capped the scoring at 10-1.
And that really was it. The Dodgers used two position players to shut the Braves down in the seventh and eighth — Adam Duvall actually took one of them out of the park, but Chris Taylor made a great robbery of the ball to prevent the Braves from notching a homer. Meanwhile, Grant Holmes, Aaron Bummer, and Luke Jackson finished out the game, which at this point was only darkly funny because the Braves still think that Bummer and his 1.2 fWAR coming into this game make sense to be deployed in a nine-run game after the other team has already signaled it’s given up.
Of note: this game featured five barrels — three outs, two doubles, and one of the doubles probably should’ve been caught. The Braves still somehow scored ten runs. Weird stuff.
Anyway, the Mets lost, the Brewers are crushing the Diamondbacks like the latter accidentally selected the wrong difficulty setting and this isn’t a game that lets you change it without starting over, and there’s a chance the Padres might lose (though they lead 2-0 at the time of writing), so this has a chance to be a productive day in the standings. The Braves will try to take the series as Charlie Morton faces off against Walker Buehler tomorrow night.
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