The Atlanta Braves rallied against the Minnesota Twins bullpen, getting Atlanta a sweep-securing 5-1 victory in Target Field on Wednesday night.
Here’s what you need to know about from the contest.
This Chris Sale streak is getting absurd
Entering today's contest, Chris Sale hadn't allowed more than two earned runs in thirteen consecutive outings.
Make it fourteen.
Sale allowed just one run over six innings despite some Minnesota traffic - the Twins picked up six hits and a walk off of the lefty, but Sale capably navigated through the runners on base to strand most of them.
The 4th inning was a microcosm of Sale's season - after two leadoff hits had Minnesota runners on 2nd and 3rd with no outs, he got a quick strikeout and then walked Carlos Santana to load the bases.
All that walk did was piss him off, apparently.
Sale pumped 99-mph fastballs in to strikeout Willi Castro before getting former teammate Christian Vázquez to groundout, stranding all three runners.
While Sale finally gave up a run in the sixth on a double and three singles, he still limited the damage thanks to yet another out of Vázquez, this one a strikeout. Sale stranded five Twins batters on base through his six innings and held Minnesota to 2-for-7 with runners in scoring position.
Offensive explosion against the Twins bullpen
As Atlanta's offense is wont to do, they popped off as soon as they got starter David Festa out of the game.
With the game tied at one after the Twins matched Jorge Soler's first-inning homer with their own run in the 6th off of Sale, the Braves offense immediately got to work against a bullpen that covered seven innings in game one and just over five in game two.
After a leadoff walk of Marcell Ozuna, consecutive base hits from Matt Olson (double) and Ramón Laureano (single) plated two, with Luke Williams closing out the inning with a 2-RBI double (his second double of the game) to push the lead to four.
(Williams was starting at third base for Gio Urshela, who manager Brian Snitker said is "a little banged up" but should be fine for the series opener tomorrow in Philadelphia.)
Held to just two hits by Twins rookie David Festa, Atlanta's late-inning explosion came against the duo of Caleb Thiebar (two runs on two hits with only one out) and Jorge Alcala (one run on two hits with two outs recorded). With Minnesota wanting to get the game to one of the most formidable backend duos in Jhoan Duran and Griffin Jax, Atlanta was able to neutralize the pair by feasting off of the lesser arms in the bullpen.
Did Luke Jackson right the ship?
We talked last night about Jackson's struggles since coming over at the trade deadline from the San Francisco Giants - he's allowed nine runs (eight earned) in his nine innings since re-joining the team, walking four and allowing thirteen hits. Hasn't really inspired confidence in the fanbase.
The first batter he faced walked on four straight pitches, which did not help.
But Jackson buckled down, getting two strikeouts and a groundout to strand that runner and keep Minnesota from chipping away at Atlanta's lead. Hitting 96 with his fastball (against a season average of 94.7 mph), Jackson seemed to be a bit angry about the walk, which undoubtedly fueled the two punchouts.
The first one, a strikeout looking of Matt Wallner, was a thing of beauty - landing a 3-2 slider at the absolute bottom of the zone, it's the type of pitch that can legitimately give a pitcher newfound confidence.
High leverage concerns for Philly?
It's not all good news in the bullpen, however. Atlanta used both Joe Jiménez and Raisel Iglesias in this one, the second consecutive night that Atlanta's setup man and closer have pitched. With Jiménez throwing 23 pitches last night and 18 tonight, he's likely to be unavailable. Iglesias pitched 1.1 last night, using a combined total of 30 pitches for the two outings.
It's extremely likely that both are unavailable for a close game in Philadelphia tomorrow night; does Atlanta have the belief that Grant Holmes, Dylan Lee, and Pierce Johnson can handle a high-leverage situation tomorrow night?
What’s next for the Atlanta Braves?
The Braves head to Philly for a four-game series that could decide who wins the National League East. The Braves need just one victory to claim the tiebreaker with a season series win, but sitting five games back as of this finish, they need to win three out of four to make this divisional race close down the stretch.
Both teams have announced their starters for the series, with the Phillies managing to avoid Chris Sale yet again. First pitch for Thursday night is at 6:40 PM ET from Citizens Bank Park, with Charlie Morton (7-7, 4.24) taking on Cristopher Sánchez (9-9, 3.51).
Related: Braves Announce Rotation for Pivotal Phillies Series
Local Atlanta, GA
Most Popular
Comments / 0