Braves news and links: Atlanta avoid sweep in Philly

Braves News:

Braves avoid sweep, defeat Phillies 6-2

After losing three straight (two blowouts) to the last-place Phillies, the Braves were desperately looking to snag a win to end their road trip before hosting the San Francisco Giants at home. Julio Teheran took to the mound and held the Phillies to two-runs through seven innings, with seven strikeouts to boot. At the plate, Jace Peterson paced the offense, going 3-for-4 with a home run and three RBI. The Braves climbed to 47-58 in the win, good for third place in the National League East.

Andrelton Simmons injury update

In the seventh inning of Saturday night's loss to Philadelphia, Braves' shortstop Andrelton Simmons injured his right thumb on a diving play. The x-rays cam back negative, but the Braves have yet to come out with any official status update on the injury. Simmons is batting .254/.317/.330 on the season with 30 RBI and a 1.9 WAR.

Is Hector Olivera a building block going forward?

The Braves had a relatively quiet trade deadline, but in their one major trade in which they shipped Alex Wood and Jose Peraza to Los Angeles, they received 30-year-old Hector Olivera in return. The Braves had expressed interest in the Cuban this past off-season, and they finally got their man. But, the question remains: could he be a franchise player heading forward? The guys at Tomahawk Take investigate:

Olivera is a 30-year-old infielder who has yet to play a game in the majors and projects to be a high average contact hitter with considerable power. Scouts speculate that he could consistently hit above .300 and notch 20-25 homers a year and have compared him to former MLB third-baseman Scott Rolen. Though Olivera’s skill-set may sound as if it will align with John Hart‘s new vision for the re-tooling Braves, the acquisition of Olivera comes with significant risk.

MLB News:

Mets slide into first-place tie in National League East

Man, that felt weird to type. The New York Mets, who under a week ago were the laughing stock of the league for their actions pre-trade deadline, swept the Washington Nationals this weekend and secured a virtual tie for first place in the NL East. Noah Syndergaard worked eight efficient innings, with nine strikeouts and just two earned runs for the win. Lucas Duda, who may just be the hottest man in the universe right now, launched his ninth home run in the past eight games in the third inning.

Emotions flare in Blue Jays-Royals game

Beanballs, ejections, and bench-clearing brawls. What more could you want in a baseball game? Things got fiery in Sunday's Toronto-Kansas City matchup, in which the likes of Troy Tulowitzki, Josh Donaldson and Alcides Escobar were intentionally hit by pitches (although Ned Yost declares that none of the hit-by-pitches courtesy of his pitchers were intentional).

"None of [the inside pitches] were intentional on our part," Yost said. "It's part of the game. [The Blue Jays] are as good an offensive team as you're going to face. They have tremendous power, but they all dive to the inside of the plate which makes them susceptible to inside pitches.