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The first six batters for the Braves all reached base in the first inning, which resulted in Atlanta burying Philadelphia in a five-run hole that the Phillies couldn’t climb out of — ultimately giving the Braves a 7-2 victory.
Indeed, the Braves jumped all over Ben Lively to start this game and in the blink of an eye, a small bit of snowy precipitation from the Braves’ bats turned into a complete avalanche of runs in the first inning. Ozzie Albies brought in Ender Inciarte after the latter led off the first inning with a double. Then Nick Markakis brought in Ozzie and Freddie Freeman after Freeman doubled to push Albies to third base. Finally, Kurt Suzuki capped off the rally with a no-doubter to left field that made it 5-0. This all happened with zero outs.
Markakis added another RBI single in the second inning to make it 6-0, and that’s how it stayed until the fourth inning. That was when the Phillies finally got to Sean Newcomb with a couple of hits that eventually led to Nick Williams bringing in Cesar Hernandez via sacrifice fly.
The Phillies added another run in the sixth inning, and shortly afterwards Sean Newcomb was pulled. He left the game with two runners on and just one out, but it was also interesting to see him get pulled while just on 84 pitches as well. But it ended up working out for the Braves as Dan Winkler got the last two outs of the innings to hold the Phillies at two runs.
Atlanta added another run in the bottom of the seventh inning, and it was none other than Kurt Suzuki going deep again. That’s now 18 dingers on the season for the veteran catcher, and I think it’s safe to say that the price will be going up for Suzuki as far as 2018 is concerned — whether it’s here or elsewhere in baseball.
Philadelphia had a chance to potentially cut into Atlanta’s lead in the top of the eighth inning when they loaded up the bases. However, some confident pitching and some solid defense got the Braves out of that jam unscathed and it was smooth sailing from there.
Luke Jackson got the honors to close down the game, and he finished it by making sure that the Phillies stayed on two runs and the game ended 7-2 in favor of the home team. It was a nice and comfortable 69th victory of the season for the Braves, and now they’ll look to reach the 70-win plateau with a win tomorrow night.