Braves Keep Winning Despite Tough Schedule
By Justin Gray
The Atlanta Braves faced their toughest week on the schedule so far with the San Francisco Giants and Los Angeles Dodgers. The four-game set with the Giants began on Monday in a pitching duel between Braves ace, Max Fried, and Giants ace, Logan Webb, they both went seven innings giving up one run. The game would remain tied at one until the ninth inning when the Braves walked it off on a run-scoring single by Orlando Arcia for the 2-1 win.
Tuesday night’s game was a different story, the Giants got out to an early lead,4-0 and then the Braves brought it back and took the lead. The game continued this way until the sixth inning when the Giants took the lead for good and won the game, 12-10. Game three was a low-scoring affair in which the Giants controlled the whole game up 2-0 until the seventh when the Braves scored one. The Giants would add one in the ninth to take a 3-1 lead and what looked like would be enough until the Braves came up to hit in their last at-bat and scored three runs to walk it off for the win, 4-3.
In game four and the series finale, the Braves would dominate this game early after two Dansby Swanson home runs and an early 7-1 lead and that would be enough as they held on for the 7-6 victory. This series win was huge especially having the Dodgers coming into town.
Freddie Freeman’s return to Atlanta would be off to a good start for his and his new team as they scored two in the first and two in the fifth and they held onto that for a 4-1 victory.
Game two was all Braves as Max Fried continued to dominate before coming out of the game in the seventh and the Dodgers would tie it in the eighth inning. It wouldn’t take much longer for the Braves to take the lead for good with a Marcell Ozuna two-run homer in the bottom of the eighth. Kenley Jansen held on for the save and the 5-3 win.
Sunday night’s game was dominated by Braves rookie Spencer Strider, he dominated and held the Dodgers to zero runs through six innings. The Braves would look to close out the game until the Dodgers put together a two-out rally in the ninth, scoring two and tying the game.
The game went into extra innings, with both teams scoring one in the tenth. In the eleventh, the Dodgers scored two, and the Braves couldn’t answer, giving the Dodgers a 5-3 win and a series win. The week was a tough one, but the Braves came out with a nice 4-3 record. This week they face the Philadelphia Phillies for three games June 28-30 and the Cincinnati Reds for three as well, July 1-3.