Not the flashiest way to end the series, but a win, nonetheless.
The Atlanta Braves might have been struggling waking their bats up, but somehow avoided being swept by the New York Yankees with a 2-1 win in extras.
A homerun knocked in by Matt Olson was the first run of the game in the top of the seventh and put the Braves on the board to kick things off.
The Yankees wouldn’t accept a shut-out, however, and knocked a solo shot of
their own—courtesy of Trent Grisham—during the bottom of the eighth to tie the Braves 1-1.
The problem with both teams during this series is the lack of offensive production to put themselves in a good spot early on. In this game specifically, there wasn’t any action from anyone until late in the game, which could’ve gone differently, considering that New York’s previous two wins in the series were low-scoring ones.
Grant Holmes came out and finished the job on his end (6.0 IP/ 3 H/ 0 ER/2 BB, 2 K), bringing his ERA to 3.47 and holding the Yankees off during his stint. It wasn’t until Didier Fuentes came in for Dylan Dodd that the Yankees would see some action with Grisham’s home run.
Michael Harris II singled to drive in Ha-Seong Kim (pinch runner for Olson on second base) for Atlanta’s second and final run in the top of the 10th inning, which sealed the deal offensively. Tyler Kinley shut down the Yankees’ offense in the bottom of the inning to get the save and end the trip on a high note.
Choosing to ignore discussing the Chris Sale ejection news that was broken before the start of Sunday’s game, the highlight is that pitching has, in general, been a solid showing on the Braves’ side. It has a lot to do with moments like these, where it can buy the offense time to get things together and see what’s working, while the defense can hold their opposers off for a while.
This, however, can’t be the case for long.
Now, the Braves are set to return to Truist, where they’ll face another New York team that hasn’t had a series of quiet bats as of late.
