Philadelphia powers their way past the Braves in a 6-5 victory

The Braves were able to bounce back from a very rough start to the game against the Phillies. However, Philadelphia’s bats had a little bit more power in them tonight than the Braves did, as five home runs from the Phillies powered them to a victory over Atlanta.

Going into this game, you figured that this was either going to result in the Phillies continuing to beat up on Max Fried or he’d continue to dominate the opposition like he did against Washington. Unfortunately, we figured out right away that the Phillies were going to keep on beating up on Fried. The first inning was a very rough one for Fried, as the Phillies jumped all over him. Two straight pitches to J.T. Realmuto and Bryce Harper were sent out of the ballpark for a home run, but you figured that he would have been fine had he mitigated the damage right there.

The Phillies had more nefarious ideas. Rhys Hoskins hit a double and then with two outs on the board, Corey Dickerson decided to make a ball take flight as well. His two-run shot doubled Philadelphia’s lead to four runs and the Braves had to go into the second inning in a four-run hole.

Fried was able to settle down for the second inning, and that one clean inning was enough for the Braves to get back in it. This offense always has the ability to put a big number on the plate and that’s exactly what happened in the third inning. The top of the order led off the third inning and all three batters hit singles, with Freddie Freeman’s single bringing in Ronald Acuña Jr. to put the Braves on the board. Then two straight walks, a single, a bizarre error from Jason Vargas and a sacrifice fly gave the Braves the three runs they needed to tie the game back up at four.

If the game was basically rebooted, then the reset did nothing to change Atlanta’s fortunes. After Fried got a double play to clear the bases, Scott Kingery came up to bat and hit a deep fly ball to center field. Ronald Acuña was on it and darted to the fence with the clear intention of keeping the ball in the ballpark in order to go into the fourth inning with the game still tied. Acuña jumped at the fence and caught the ball, but the ball was dislodged from his glove on the way down.

Instead of picking up the ball and throwing it in, Acuña got busy pleading his case for a catch. While this was going on, Kingery used his blazing speed to streak across the basepaths and score an Inside-the-Park home run. All of that hard work to tie the game and get out of a four-run hole was immediately undone in one fell swoop due to an absolutely bizarre moment.

Things stayed quiet for a couple of innings after that and both bullpens were in the game by the time Max Fried left following the fifth inning. After Darren O’Day retired one batter, he was relieved by A.J. Minter. Minter came on to face Corey Dickerson, and Dickerson rudely welcomed him to Philadelphia with a no-doubter. It was one of those shots where the outfielders didn’t need to move, since there was no point in trying to field a ball that was hit all the way to New Jersey.

The Phillies went up by two when that happened, but the lead was cut back down to one in the eighth inning. That was due to Johan Camargo continuing his efforts to get his season under control. He launched one into the seats in right center field to make it a 6-5 game in favor of Philadelphia.

Unfortunately, that’s how it ended. The Braves were unable to bring any more offense out of their bats, and they went down quietly in the ninth inning. It’s a little bit of a frustrating loss — especially when the Phillies went ahead due to a wacky moment immediately after the Braves had fought back from being down by four runs. The loss stings, but it’s more like bee sting since the Twins beat the Nationals and sent the Magic Number down to 9. The Braves may not have won tonight, but the calendar is still on their side.