The Atlanta Braves have picked quite possibly the funniest time possible to go on their best run of form all season. Atlanta’s now won seven in a row and now they’re suddenly getting left in the dust in the Lottery race by the Pirates and Twins while getting completely entangled with the A’s and the Orioles. Considering Atlanta’s competition during the final week of the season, this could very well end up being an extremely fruitful end to the season on the field for the Braves. Maybe not in the lottery
but those are the breaks!
Pirates 2, Athletics 0
Box Score | Savant | Condensed Game
The score might suggest that this one was pretty close. Nah. All the Pirates needed was a pair of solo homers — one from Nick Yorke (his first of the season, no less. He now has three (3) for his career so far) and one from Bryan Reynolds (who has hit a bunch of home runs over the course of his career) early on in the game. Those two runs may as well have been 20 because the A’s had absolutely no answers for pitchers Bubba Chandler, Bryan Ashcraft and Dennis Santana. The A’s had a grand total of one hit in this one. Folks, it’s pretty hard to win if you can’t pick up more than one hit!
Guardians 6, Twins 0
Box Score | Savant | Condensed Game
Guardians 8, Twins 0
Box Score | Savant | Condensed Game
The Twins have essentially been a dead baseball team walking since they sold off nearly all of their impact players at the Trade Deadline. The Guardians have been surging and apparently smell blood in the water with the Braves helping to contribute to the major slump that the Tigers are currently in. As such, this was always going to be a tough task for the Twins to get anything out of this doubleheader and sure enough, the Guardians came away with not just a doubleheader sweep but a pair of shutouts to boot. Slade Cecconi pitched seven shutout innings in the first game and then Logan Allen proceeded to toss eight shutout innings in the nightcap. Again, you can’t win if you can’t score and boy, the Twins couldn’t buy themselves a run on Saturday.
Marlins 4, Rangers 3
Box Score | Savant | Condensed Game
The sixth inning was the crucial one in this contest, as the game turned once Texas starter Jack Leiter got two outs deep into that frame. It seemed like he was going to escape it with the game still tied at two runs apiece. However, Troy Johnston and Connor Norby went back-to-back in order to not only give the Marlins a lead but give them some breathing room as well. Texas was unable to mount a big enough comeback to overturn that rough inning and now the Rangers are scrambling to stay alive in the Wild Card race. Meanwhile, Miami has won eight of their last 10 games and that’s been a major factor in helping Atlanta maintain their position in the Lottery standings despite their recent hot streak. Go figure.
Yankees 6, Orioles 1
Box Score | Savant | Condensed Game
The Bronx Bombers took control of this one in the very first inning thanks to Giancarlo Stanton launching a three-run bomb for his 450th career dinger. Aaron Judge followed that up with a homer to make it 4-0 in the third inning and then Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Trent Grisham both delivered RBI singles to get the Yankees to their eventual final run tally of six. Meanwhile, Carlos Rodón pitched seven innings and didn’t give up a run until that seventh inning. The only good news for Baltimore in this one is that they avoided getting shut out and they also got a little bit closer to catching both the Braves and A’s in the Lottery standings. It’s the little things!
The Braves are trying their hardest to mess up their lottery chances but other teams just won’t let them completely botch ith. Either way, with a series win under Atlanta’s belt and both the Nationals and Pirates coming to town to end the season, the Braves may very well proceed to end this season on a high note. Again, they’ve picked a pretty hilarious time to go on a great run. With the way the Twins and Pirates have looked lately, it seems as if the Braves may be simply fighting to hold on to the fourth-best lottery odds. We’ll se what happens.
Visit tankathon.com/mlb for the latest standings on this tragic, tragic race for the chance to pick up an extremely high draft pick and sweet bonus pool money as well.
