Guillermo Heredia had a career night and Bryse Wilson hit well enough, but Braves fans are waiting for news of Ronald Acuna Jr., who scored the Braves’ 13-4 victory over the Cubs.
The Braves wasted no time in scoring. Nadat Ronald Acuna Jr. was based on the lead of the match, which I assume was just a clerical error, as it seems more likely than him who is recording a result at this point, Freddie Freeman chose a loud solo homer to give the Braves an early 1- 0. 107.6 km / h from the bat. 421 feet. Yep, it will play. Travis d’Arnaud did not want to be left out and after Marcell Ozuna made a walk, TdA launched his own homer … a two-shot and the Braves were up very quickly with 3-0. After a hard-hitting hit from Dansby, Ehire Adrianza channeled his spring practice form to make a solo shot of his own to give Braves a 4-0 lead. After Austin Riley was hit by a field goal, Guillermo Heredia paired for a two-pointer homer and the Braves were 6-0 ahead. So it was a fun first innings for the Braves offense.
The Cubs did not go quiet. After a single and double play, Anthony Rizzo would get the Cubbies on the board with a solo shot of his own to make it a 6-1 game. The next two batsmen would stretch on a single cut and a walk before Javier Baez ran into a run on a throwing error from Austin Riley and it was a 6-2 lead for Braves. Luckily, old friend Jason Heyward graciously ended the innings, but this game had an adventure.
After a pointless second innings for both teams, the Braves started work in third place. Dansby leads the innings with a single cut and then Riley gets an inside zone to take it out first and second with one. Unfortunately, Guillermo Heredia struck and then Bryse Wilson had to strike because MLB apparently appreciates the value of pitchers in 2021. A foundation for the pitcher later and the Braves got away empty handed.
Anthony Rizzo continued with a solo shot in this game to give the Cubs half of the third lead. Luckily, the Cubs went quietly different than that with some quick results and Bryse’s first strike of the game against Baez.
At the top of the fourth series, Acuna Jr. and Freddie walked backwards before hitting Ozuna with a swing that made them both move into the points standings. The Braves got the volley from d’Arnaud to score Ronnie, but Freddie is thrown out in third place after finishing the innings which was less than ideal. Even less ideal, Acuna, who was obviously physically uncomfortable while standing on second base, was in a lot of pain after slipping home and was removed from the match. Hello darkness, my old friend …
Once Hendricks was out of the game for the 5th, the Braves made things immediately interesting as Adrianza, Riley and Heredia quickly loaded the dogs with one. Bryse Wilson came on quickly and Johan Camargo, who batted in place of Acuna, closed out the innings to end the innings.
While Bryse Wilson went down over the last few innings, the Braves held on in the sixth. Freddie Freeman led the innings with a double lead and Marcell Ozuna immediately drove him in with an RBI single to make it 8-3. Travis d’Arnaud would have paired up for an RBI doubles, but fans’ interference meant Marcell Ozuna had to stop in third place as it was a double ground rule after an unnecessarily long review. Dansby was hit by a sheet to load the base, and Adrianza tackled another run with a pocket fly. Austin Riley would then be hit by his second pitch of the game to reload the base. This time, Guillermo would pay Heredia Ryan ‘Headhunter’ Tepera with a grand slam to take a 13-3 Braves lead.
On the sixth inning, Luke Jackson takes the hill with Bryse’s last line: 5 IP, 7 H, 3 R (2 ER), 1 BB, 1K. Luke never makes things easy, but he ends up putting up a pointless framework. Grant Dayton will offer seventh place to Atlanta and also he will offer a pointless shift of relief.
Josh Tomlin’s eighth inning was a little more eventful. He took out the first two hits, but then Joc Pederson made a triple rope and then Javy Baez doubled him at home to make a 13-4 game. Luckily, a Jason Heyward fly ended the inning. Tyler Matzek would come in to end the game for the Braves to get work in, and while he started a bit wild, he would eventually steady the ship and hit three straight batsmen to end the game.