It took a while for the Braves to really get going in this one. Once they did, there was no looking back for Atlanta after Lane Adams opened the floodgates and rode an offensive wave in the sixth inning to an 8-5 victory.
The Diamondbacks wasted no time going on the attack, though. The top of Arizona’s order made a concerted effort to swing at whatever Folty was going to throw to start off the game, and it seemed as if they had a run on the board in the blink of an eye after Chris Owings brought in A.J. Pollock with the first run of the game. Folty did a good job of mitigating the damage to that one run, and it stayed that way until the third inning.
The third frame was when Brandon Phillips knotted things up with a monster solo home run. That was his eighth home run of the year and also another mammoth shot for Phillips in this ballpark. Also, that wouldn’t be the last moonshot that the Braves would hit in this game, as you’ll see below.
No doubt about that one! #ChopOn pic.twitter.com/4S56ukbBEg
— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) July 16, 2017
While Phillips’ dinger in the third tied the game, the Braves actually moved ahead in the fifth inning thanks to some timely hitting with two outs. Ender Inciarte added yet another hit to his extensive tally on the season and then Brandon Phillips once again delivered an RBI when his double allowed Ender to score all the way from first to put the Braves in the lead.
The lead didn’t last long, though. The guy who was retired for the second out of the inning was Mike Foltynewicz, who was laboring a bit on 95 pitches at that point. Interestingly enough, he went out there for the sixth inning. Sure enough, Chris Hermann led off that frame with a double, and then the Diamondbacks tied it up thanks to Daniel Descalso bringing in Hermann.
Folty exited the game at that point, and it was up to Luke Jackson to make sure that the Braves kept the lead. One walk and a two-out single later, the Diamondbacks were back in front. Ian Krol came in and made sure that the damage was limited to just a one-run deficit for Atlanta.
Fortunately, Arizona’s lead didn’t last long at all and the Braves’ bats came to life in a big way in the sixth inning. Matt Kemp and Nick Markakis poked a couple of soft singles through Arizona’s infield to lead off the frame, and Dansby Swanson worked his way on base with a walk to load the bases for — wait for it — Lane Adams. We didn’t get Matt Adams this evening, but we did get a huge three-run double from Lane that broke the game open.
2 outs, #Braves trailing, bases loaded...
— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) July 16, 2017
Take it away @LA_Swiftness! pic.twitter.com/jwen8T0pNF
Ender Inciarte added a run later on to make it 6-4 heading into the seventh inning, and Kurt Suzuki added an RBI single of his own in that frame to make it 7-4. The Diamondbacks added two runs in the eighth at the expense of Rex Brothers and Sam Freeman, but fortunately the Braves were able to extend the lead back to three in the bottom half of the eighth when Jace Peterson launched one to the roof of the Chop House out in right field.
Seriously, there was no doubt about this one at all as soon as it left Jace’s bat.
#Dbacks 5 @ #Braves 8 [B8-0o]
— Home Run Tracker (@DingerTracker) July 16, 2017
Jace Peterson homers (1): fly ball to RF (solo)
[ 108mph • 408ft • 33° ]
Viz: pic.twitter.com/jpv7Z4brwE
The Jim Johnson Experience™ was a pleasant one this evening, and the Braves were able to lock down another big victory in this month of July and did so in front of a record crowd at SunTrust Park.
After getting a series split against the Nationals, the Braves have once again answered the bell by picking up a series victory against a pretty good Diamondbacks team. They’ll now have a shot at getting a sweep tomorrow afternoon and they’ll simultaneously have a shot at reaching .500 for the first time since April 17th. Y’all having fun yet?