Instead of the eighth inning being the moment of truth for the Braves, it was the ninth and tenth inning for Atlanta this time.
Chris Sale is probably wondering what more does he have to do at this point. Sale delivered for the second start in a row as he threw seven shutout innings for the Atlanta Braves in this one and exited the game with no run support. Fortunately, the Braves came alive late and thanks to big hits from Michael Harris II and Marcell Ozuna, Atlanta was able to come away from this one with a dramatic 2-1 win in extras.
The first three innings of this one came and went without much incident, as both Chris Sale and Andrew Abbott both traded zeroes in the early going in this one. The Reds nearly got something going in the first inning after TJ Friedl and Matt McLain pulled off a double steal so that both of them were in scoring position with one out. Fortunately, Sale got a strikeout and a groundout to escape the situation without taking any damage on the scoreboard. Atlanta had a chance in the second inning when Sean Murphy and and Eli White were both in scoring position but Michael Harris II struck out to end the inning. Other than that, neither team was able to do much damage during the early portion of this contest as Sale and Abbott both made their presence felt in this one.
To let you know how rote and a bit dull the first half of this game was, the fans at the ballpark were getting the wave going in the fifth inning. I’ve been to my fair share of baseball games over the years and that’s the earliest I’ve seen a wave break out. If you’re a fan of pitching then this was the game for you, I’ll tell you that much. For the fans who show up for all the other facets of baseball, there wasn’t a lot to write home about in this one.
Still, Sale and Abbott were essentially going bar-for-bar with each other during the early and middle portions of this contest. Up to that point, Sale had gone six innings with nine strikeouts, four hits and one walk allowed with zero runs left on the board across 92 pitches. Meanwhile, Abbott went five innings with eight strikeouts, four hits and zero walks over 91 pitches. I repeat — they were going bar-for-bar out there.
Graham Ashcraft entered the game for the Reds in the sixth inning and this coincided with a renewed hope that Atlanta’s lineup would be the first ones to come alive in this one. That was not the case in the sixth inning, as Ashcraft walked in and retired the heart of Atlanta’s order in pretty short order — Matt Olson battled Ashcraft for 11 pitches before succumbing to a strikeout in order to make sure that the game remained 0-0 heading into the latter portion of the game in the seventh inning.
Chris Sale went back out there for the top of the seventh and immediately found himself in trouble when Austin Wynns hit a 388-foot double that would’ve been a home run in every single ballpark except for the one in which this game was taking place. As such, it was up to Sale to end his night on a high note by escaping this particular situation. Sale got the first two outs of the seventh but a four-pitch walk heralded his exit from what ended up being another fantastic start for the veteran hurler.
Pierce Johnson then entered and struck out Matt McLain on four pitches, ensuring that Sale’s line remained pristine in terms of runs allowed on the night.
Graham Ashcraft stayed out there for the seventh inning and the Braves finally got something resembling a rally going in this frame thanks to a leadoff walk from Ozzie Albies and then a follow-up single from Sean Murphy putting runners on the corners with nobody out. The onus was placed squarely upon the bottom of the order to make something happen as the Reds brought in Tony Santillan in order to put out the fire.
The first out hurt, as Eli White hit a grounder to third which resulted in Albies being wiped out on the third base line. Michael Harris II hit the first pitch he saw directly to TJ Friedl in center field for the second out. Nick Allen walked to load up the bases for Alex Verdugo, who grounded out to first in order to wipe out what had been quite easily the best scoring chance for either team on the night.
After Elly De La Cruz started off the eighth inning with an infield single and a stolen base, it sure seemed like the baseball gods were setting up to punish the Braves for letting their bases-loaded opportunity go by the wayside. Sure enough, Santiago Espinal laced one out to center field, which meant that Elly De La Cruz was able to easily score from second in order to give the Reds the first run of the contest. Daysbel Hernández was able to get out of the rest of the inning without giving up any more damage but it was also clear that the Braves were going to need some more late heroics if they were going to leave the ballpark with the win on this particular evening.
Austin Riley got things going for Atlanta with a leadoff single and the obvious hope at this point was that this would be another one of those happy eighth-inning moments for the home team. That didn’t end up being the case for the Braves in this particular eighth ining, as Marcell Ozuna, Matt Olson and Ozzie Albies each went down in order, ensuring that this game would still be 1-0 Cincinnati heading into the ninth inning.
Emilio Pagán got the ball for the Reds in the ninth inning and Sean Murphy coaxed a walk out of him to at least give the Braves a chance in this frame. This time, the Braves actually took the chance — Michael Harris II it a line drive to right field for a double and pinch-runner Stuart Fairchild showed off some excellent baserunning in order to go from first-to-home on the double in order to tie the game up at one run apiece.
Drake Baldwin entered the game as a pinch-hitter and delivered a productive out to move Michael Harris II 90 feet away from winning the ballgame. Alex Verdugo popped out, which meant that it was time for Manfredball with Raisel Iglesias on the mound to start extra innings for the Braves.
Iglesias sat down the Reds in short order, which meant the Braves were just a hit away from winning this one in extras with the heart of their order coming to the plate for their half of the tenth inning. The Reds had Lyon Richardson intentionally walk Austin Riley in order to get his plate appearance out of the way but it didn’t matter as Marcell Ozuna took the opportunity and hit a laser beam out to left field in order to walk it off and give the Braves an exciting win in extras.
It took a while but the Braves eventually made it happen in this one. Chris Sale appears to be back, Raisel Iglesias was absolutely nails in the tenth inning and the offense was able to finally deliver a breakthrough in the latter stages of this one. The Braves have now locked down a split of this four-game series and I wouldn’t hold it against them getting the series win (and maybe even more) as this series concludes. For now, it’s time to celebrate another late walk-off win at home for Atlanta.