After both teams exploded on offense in the previous two games, the Atlanta Braves took on the Chicago White Sox in hopes of taking the series.
Based on the previous two games, and both teams having some of the hottest offenses in MLB, that this game would be a high scoring one. Instead, we got a pitchers duel and one of the fastest games all season.
Hurston Waldrep took the mound for the Braves after pitching 17.2 innings of 1.02 ERA ball this season. The very first batter he faced, Michael Tauchman
led the game off with a single that deflected off of Ozzie Albies. One would think this may not be a good sign, but that was not the case. The very next hitter grounded into a double play. Waldrep then recorded his only walk of the entire night when he walked Kyle Teel. The walk did not come back to haunt Waldrep as he was able to get Sosa to ground out.
The Braves’ turn with the bats were about the same as the White Sox. Other than a Ronald Acuña Jr. single, they could not produce any offense off of Martín Pérez. Waldrep looked solid in the second inning. Luis Robert did have a hard hit liner for an out off of him, but he also produced a soft line out and his first strikeout of seven on the night against Benintendi.
The Braves were only able to produce the minimum number of hitters, to include one of the hottest hitters on the planet, Michael Harris II striking out. Waldrep again gave up a leadoff single in the third inning, but again followed it up with. forced GIDP after striking out Curtis Mead.
It looked like the Braves may get something going when Nacho Alvarez led off the bottom of the third with a single, but shocker alert, he was not able to move over on a bunt attempt from Nick Allen. Profar then struck out and then Matt Olson popped up in foul territory.
Waldrep was clearly in the zone, no pun intended, in the fourth inning. After forcing a ground out, he struck out Teel and Sosa. Fun fact, he struck out Sosa while throwing three splitters for strikes. Before this game, he had a 54.2 percent whiff rate on that pitch. The Braves were finally able to plate a run in the fourth, even if it was with a little help from the White Sox defense. Acuña lined out, but then Ozuna absolutely smoked one down the left field line on a ball that came 107.5 MPH off the bat. He was then moved over by a Harris groundout. Ozzie Albies hit a chopper up the middle and Montgomery bobbled it and was unable to make the play, which scored Ozuna to make the score 1-0 Braves. Murphy then struck out.
Waldrep was locked in again in the fifth. He picked up two strikeouts, and even though he gave up a single to Robert, Murphy had his back and gunned him down trying to steal second. The Braves once again were shut down to just the minimum hitters in the bottom of the fifth. Almost a rarity in this series, but not tonight.
Waldrep stayed in to pitch the sixth, which proved a wise choice. A single was the only baserunner he gave up. In the bottom of the sixth, after Matt Olson struck out, Jordan Leasure came in the game to pitch. This proved the right choice for the White Sox as he sat down the next two hitters.
Waldrep kept cruising in the seventh. He sat down all three hitters picking up a strikeout to Sosa, which made it his seventh of the night. Waldrep completed his night with 7.0 innings pitched, giving up zero earned runs, while only surrendering four hits (all singles) and one walk while striking out seven. We will take outings like that every single day. The Braves’ bats were once again silenced. This time against Mike Vasil. Not a single base runner in the seventh.
Pierce Johnson came in to pitch the eighth. He was able to produce a one-two-three inning while picking up a strikeout along the way. It looked like the Braves may at least plate one when Alvarez had his second single of the game and was then moved over to second after an Allen strikeout and a Profar groundout, but after a pitching change Matt Olson hit a ball to CF where Robert Jr. made a sliding play to end the inning.
Raisel Iglesias came in the game for the one-run save opportunity. Iglesias has been lights out since the All-Star break so there was no reason to believe that would change now. Edgar Quero came in to pinch hit for Curtis Mead and Iglesias got him to ground out to Albies. Tauchman then came up to bat and got ahold of one that flew 358.0 feet, but Acuña was able to make the play on it. Iglesias then struck out Vargas on three pitches to notch the save, and lower his season ERA to 3.86. For reference, his ERA was 5.12 as recent as July Nineteenth.
The Braves offense was not pretty tonight. In half of their innings, they only brought up the minimum number of hitters to the plate and they scored their lone run on an error, but it was enough to get the win on a night where Hurston Waldrep and the bullpen stole the show.
The next game is on Friday at home against the Mets at 7:15 EDT.
