The Atlanta Braves took on the Cincinnati Reds in what will be Chris Sale’s final start of the season. The Braves have already clinched their division and likely will not catch the two seed, but it was still going to be a fun game with Chris Sale trying to reach the two-hundred strikeout mark.
Chris Sale leads the NL in having the lowest HR rate against him with averaging 0.5 HR per nine innings. So, it was a bit of a shock to see him give up a leadoff HR to Brito. Sale settled in after that though
and pitched an insanely good game. After the mistake he struck out both De La Cruz and ROY favorite Stewart. He then got Myers to fly out.
The Braves have struggled of late against SPs and made it up by destroying RPs. Today they struggled against Andrew Abbott who is having the worst season of his four year career. He has been walking hitters at a high clip, but the Braves have been walking at a very low clip. Matt Olson was able to hit a double in the first, but that was the only offense for the Braves.
If it was not clear already, Sale clearly wanted that two-hundredth strikeout. He struck out the side in the second on fourteen pitches. The Braves yet again could garner a walk against a high walk rate pitcher. Riley singled, but it was the only offense in the second.
In the third inning, Sale game up a single to Brito, the hitter that took him deep already, but that was the offense. Sale was able to strike out De La Cruz again on an overturned challenge for his sixth strikeout in three innings. Third inning for the Braves with more of the same. One hit and nothing else. This time it was a single from Dubón that was a slowly hit ball to second.
Sale struck out the first two hitters he faced in the fourth, but then struggled by his standards. He hit Suárez and then McLain singled. Fortunately, Baldwin gunned down McLain trying to steal to end the top of the fourth. The fourth ended the streak of getting one hit and nothing else for the Braves, but not in a good way. They were sat down in order.
In the fifth Sale gave up a double, but was able to prevent anymore damage and also picked up his ninth strikeout on the night. The offense for the Braves finally got a walk from Brewer Hicklen, but then he was picked off, so does it really count? That was the only offense for the fifth.
Chris Sale stayed in the game to pitch the sixth to try and get strikeout number two-hundred. De La Cruz flied out, but then Sale was able to do it on the next hitter when he struck out Sal Stewart for his tenth of the game and two-hundredth of the season. He was then replaced by Victor Mederos who was able to end the top of the sixth with a walk and a strikeout of his own.
It looked like it was going to be another dud in the sixth inning when the Braves had two outs relatively quickly, but then Matt Olson did what Matt Olson does and hit a game tying dinger.
Spoiler alert, Riley does too, but that is later in the game. It looked like the Braves might take the lead in the sixth with an Albies single, but Harris flied out.
Robert Suarez made his long awaited return in the seventh, but it did not start off well. He gave up a leadoff triple to McLain. He was able to settle down a bit and force a ground out, a sacrifice fly to give the Reds the lead, and then a fly out. It should be noted that he faced the bottom of the order of a really bad offense, but it is a positive to see Suarez back pitching again.
The seventh is when Austin Riley hit the aforementioned HR to lead off. Unfortunately, that was the only offense. Dylan Lee came in to pitch the eighth and had a very encouraging appearance. He has struggled of late, but not tonight. He retired the side in order.
There were a few instances that looked like the Braves may get some momentum going in the eighth. Dubón walked on four pitches from new pitcher Ashcraft, but then Olson grounded into a double play. Albies was hit by a pitch, and then it appeared Harris beat out a throw to first for a single, but then it was overturned to end the inning.
Raisel Iglesias came in to pitch the ninth. He looked like prime Iggy, striking out the the side. This brought us to the bottom of the ninth. Former Brave Pierce Johnson came in to pitch and struck out Austin Riley. Dom Smith came in to pinch hit for Murphy in the DH slot, but also struck out. Yastrzemski came in to hit for Hicklen, but popped out. This led to extras.
Brent Suter, the Rick Devens of baseball, came in to pitch the tenth and struck out Cabrera, and recorded a ground out and fly out. This brought Ha-Seong Kim to the plate, and we saw an ancient art take place when he hit a sac bunt to move the runner to third (DaShawn Keirsey Jr. started the inning at second). Drake Baldwin was then hit by a pitch to put runners on the corners. Dubón then came in clutch once again and walked in off with a single that was a crazy chopper that could not have been better placed.
The Braves once again got carved up by a subpar SP and came through against the bullpen, and Chris Sale was able to reach an impressive milestone with his two-hundredth strikeout of the season to include ten this evening.
The Braves will take on the Reds once more tomorrow at the same time and same place.
