The Braves started their series against Boston off with Spencer Strider on the mound, looking to build on his strong start against the Dodgers.
Spencer worked around a leadoff walk with two contact outs and a nice pickoff for a clean first inning. It didn’t take long for the Braves to give him some help, as Drake Baldwin hit his sixth home run against left-handed pitching this season, just barely eluding Ceddanne Rafaela’s glove in centerfield. The Braves got another couple of baserunners, as Ozzie
was hit by a pitch and Austin blistered a single, but to no avail.
Strider walked another in the second, but struck out two batters on high heat and got a groundout to end the frame. Both pitchers settled in and pitched around a few scattered baserunners until Michael Harris added on with another lefty-on-lefty solo shot to lead off the fourth.
After a quiet fifth, Strider allowed a soft leadoff double before striking out Durbin, at which point Walt Weiss pulled him for Dylan Lee, keeping him to just two times through the Boston lineup. His 5.1 innings with 4 strikeouts and 3 walks isn’t his best, but he kept the Red Sox to one run and induced 16 whiffs, with his fastball averaging 95.5 MPH. It wasn’t quite the Dodgers start, but those whiffs are still a good sign for Spencer. Dylan Lee struck out Duran, but allowed an RBI single before inducing an inning-ending pop-up.
After another quiet outing from the Atlanta offense, Tyler Kinley got the seventh and recorded two outs before allowing a Chop House homer and a ground rule double. Robert Suarez came in to finish the inning and worked a clean eighth as well after more of nothing from the Braves’ offense. Drake Baldwin led off the home eighth with a scalded single, but Ozzie, Olson, and Austin went down in order. Iglesias got the ninth and recorded the first two outs before allowing a single and a walk to put the go-ahead run in scoring position for Boston. Iggy struck out Monasterio to keep the game tied and give the Braves a chance to walk the game off in the bottom of the ninth.
They did not, however, as Aroldis Chapman breezed through the 6, 7, and 8 spots of the order. Didier Fuentes took the tenth and gave the Braves a golden opportunity with a scoreless frame, despite the ghost-runner. Mike Yastrzemski took quick advantage of that opportunity after trying to bunt for his first two strikes, ultimately landing a walk-off single to bring Kim home.
The Braves will have two chances to win the series now this weekend, so join us tomorrow at 7:15 PM ET, as they look to take their first chance behind Bryce Elder.
