After lagging behind Dansby Swanson in the back of the top of the ninth innings, he closed out a furious rally and return for the Atlanta Braves in the ninth innings. The home team broke their four-game losing streak as they scratched and split to a 7-6 victory over the Miami Marlins.
For the first four innings of this game, it was sure as if we were about to get another long game of frustration for the Braves. Atlanta’s performances were sometimes confused by Trevor Rogers and the Marlins struck early and often with soft and hard contact. After a pointless first inning, Ian Anderson found himself in trouble after hitting Brian Anderson to start the frame. The next three innings won doubles, doubles and singles, and the Marlins were 2-0 up at the end of the frame. The second doubles the Marlins put on the board was a blob of 86.1 miles per hour with an expected batting average of .080. It eventually became a doubles game because it was the Braves’ luck here in the early season.
With two outs in the fourth innings, Braves pitching got into two-out trouble again. This time, Ian Anderson had a situation where Chad Wallach was in second place with two out after a Jon Berti strike and a sacrifice weight from Rogers. Corey Dickerson trapped him on the very first pitch of the innings and Wallach came home to score. It was 3-0 at that point, the Braves did not get their first hit until the bottom half of the innings and the mood was definitely loud at the ballpark in Cobb County.
Luckily, the fifth inning was when we were all reminded that Ronald Acuña Jr. playing for this team and that he is currently playing an incredible baseball. All he needs is a little help, and Ehire Adrianza gave it with a pinch hit to give the fifth lead. Acuña then comes on board and throws a fast ball of 94 km per hour from Trevor Rogers who is off the plate and out of the zone. All of those factors didn’t matter, because Acuña somehow loaded it up somehow and lifted it over the fence in the left field for a two-gait dancer who brought the Braves back to life. He’s on an incredible flight at the moment and it was one of the more freaky moments you’ll see of him while he’s in tears.
What was even better was that Ronald Acuña was not the only one to bring the showdown to Atlanta today. In the very next innings, the Braves found themselves with two men on and two out when the pitcher’s place in the series came up again. This time it was Pablo Sandoval’s turn to hit a pinch. At that point, he was already loving himself with the Braves’ fan by hitting all a few big cracking hits. After today, he is officially on course to become a cult hero after hitting his third hammer of the season. The power push of the Panda gave the Braves the lead and for the first time in a few days, optimism was the highest for the Braves and those present.
The optimism levels immediately took a hit at the top of the seventh position as Nate Jones’ second pitch to Starling Marte finally hovered over the left field fence for a solo shot that cut Atlanta’s lead to just one run. Luckily, Jones got it together and clung on for the rest of the innings and retained the lead. Tyler Matzek followed that up with a very good outing in the eighth innings, which set the stage for AJ Minter to close matters out after the ninth innings.
Unfortunately, Minter has everything but to end the game right there. Instead, he transferred his fight from earlier in the week to this game and he walked the first batter he saw – which extended the streak to four runs. The line was broken when Adam Duvall came off the bench and ended his week of torture with a double play. Minter put the next two batsmen in order and it looked like he would pull a Nate Jones from earlier and reduce the damage to just one run. Instead, he pulls a ‘Braves Pitching Staff In General’ and gives out a run with two on the board. It is fitting that it was Garrett Cooper who beat the hit single for the Marlins and once again it looked like the Braves were on their way to their downfall.
The Braves passed under the ninth innings with Ender Inciarte as their frontrunner. Dylan Floro scored 0-2 at Inciarte, and I’m sure the majority of the fanbase wanted to prepare for a second or a soft roller to second base. Instead, Ender dragged one left for a lead, and the fateful rally began. Ronald Acuña Jr. continued his terrifying madness with a single, and then Freddie Freeman supplemented an MVP caliber by luring a walk from Floro to ten spots.
After Travis d’Arnaud (who did not start) struck, the base was still loaded for Ozzie Albies and he showed strong patience to step up a game. The Braves had new life at that point, and Dansby Swanson wasted no time in declaring the Braves alive when he hit the first pitch he saw from Floro in the left field to give the Braves their first kick off of to give up the season and win a desperate need.
Although there are still many games left to play, the Braves have not yet started with the type of start they expected. With that said, this is one of those games that can easily be seen as the catalyst for a change in happiness. The Braves have returned twice in this one, including making a back-to-back ninth in a runaway victory. While the Braves still have a lot of work to do to turn things around and really get rolling, they can do so in the knowledge that they have the wind in their sails for a much-needed clutch performance and victory. Hopefully this is the game we all look back on later this season as the day when things started to fluctuate and roll for the Atlanta Braves.