BALTIMORE (AP) — After Ozzie Albies let a ball through his legs in the ninth inning, the Atlanta Braves spent the rest of the game on the ropes.
Somehow, they escaped with a victory — thanks to their bullpen, their manager, their corner infielders and even Albies himself.
“A lot to unpack here,” manager Walt Weiss said.
Weiss ordered an unusual intentional walk with men on first and second in the bottom of the 11th, and the move paid off when Atlanta
held on for a 3-2 win over the Baltimore Orioles on Sunday. The error by Albies helped the Orioles tie the game in the ninth, and then the Braves had to escape a bases-loaded, nobody-out jam — at one point deploying five infielders and two outfielders — to keep the game deadlocked in the 10th.
It looked like a routine victory for Atlanta until Albies missed a grounder in the ninth, giving the Orioles men on first and third with one out and the Braves up 2-1. But Albies made a terrific diving stop on the very next batter and threw to first for the out. The tying run scored, but at least Atlanta was able to prevent the game from getting away that inning.
“Ozzie never misses a ball. He's as sure-handed as anybody in this game. So freak things happen in this game,” Weiss said. “He's one of our leaders. ... If you're in this league long enough, tough things are going to happen to you.”
With the score still tied in the 10th, a wild pitch and a walk put men on first and third for the Orioles. An intentional walk to Pete Alonso loaded the bases.
“It didn't look good when the bases were loaded, nobody out,” Weiss said. “We pull out a five-man infield, just trying to do anything we can to survive there.”
Gunnar Henderson hit a hard liner right at Matt Olson, who was already almost on top of first base when he caught it. Alonso was doubled off.
“That's probably the one ball we can get a double play on,” Weiss said. “And it was close. I wasn't sure if they were going to overturn it or not.”
Third baseman Austin Riley led off the 11th with an RBI double that put the Braves up 3-2, but they still had to sweat out the bottom of the inning. With men on first and second and two outs, Atlanta intentionally walked the left-handed hitting Jackson Holliday, pushing the winning run to second and the tying run to third.
That brought up catcher Sam Huff, who bats right-handed, against righty Tyler Kinley on the mound.
“I'm sure I would have got killed for that one,” Weiss said. “I like Tyler against righties.”
Presumably Weiss was also swayed by the fact that Baltimore's top two catchers are on the injured list and the Orioles had no hitters left on their bench by that point. Huff was 4 for 32 on the season with 19 strikeouts. Then Kinley got him to hit a groundball to end it.
“You've got to earn the right to face guys in this league, right? I haven't earned my right with a lot of lefties lately,” Kinley said. “The easy move there is put him on and let me go attack the righty.”
It was the third time this season a player was intentionally walked with men on first and second. The other two times it backfired. Texas put Houston's Yordan Alvarez on in that situation in the seventh inning July 12, and the next batter hit a two-run single.
This past Friday, Pittsburgh intentionally walked Pete Crow-Armstrong of the Cubs with men on first and second in the 10th, only for the next hitter to draw a walk and force in a run.
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