Braves stay hot and continue winning!

By Justin Gray

The Atlanta Braves schedule this week included two three-game sets on the road against both the Washington Nationals and Chicago Cubs. They began the week on Monday in Washington as their 11-game win streak was on the line and they would keep the streak going after a stellar offensive performance hitting five home runs with rookie Michael Harris II hitting his first career homer.

Game two would continue to be more of the same from the Braves' offense as they continued crushing the ball at the plate hitting another five home runs. Michael Harris II continued to make his case for “Rookie of the Year” by adding three more hits and another home run.

The third and final game of the series featured rookie stud Spencer Strider on the mound for Atlanta and he continued his amazing season with 5 ⅔ innings pitched along with eleven more strikeouts. On the offensive side, the Braves tried to break the franchise record for home runs in a three-game series which was eleven and they did just that adding three more to make the new record at 13! They went on to win the game 8-2, finished sweeping the Nationals, and extended their winning streak to 14 games!

Now they headed to Chicago to keep the winning going, but the streak would halt at 14 games in a 1-0 loss to the Cubs. In a game that seemed like no one would ever score, the Cubs scored one in the eighth for the win. Even though the long win streak was over, the Braves' would hope to begin another one, but the Cubs would stop that as they started strong in game two scoring four in the first three frames. This would be too much for the Braves to overcome as they get handled by the Cubs, 6-3, for their second straight loss.

Game three was on a windy Sunday afternoon in the Windy City, and the Braves would look to salvage at least one win in the series, and that they did. Getting the scoring started early, Braves Catcher Travis

, hit a three-run home run in the first inning, and they would go on to add three more in the fifth. Although one would have been enough as Ian Anderson had a terrific start going 6 ⅔ innings pitched, striking out 6, and only surrendering three hits. The Braves finished the week 4-2 overall and stayed right where they were at 5.5 games back in the NL East.

The Braves schedule for the upcoming week is two series in Atlanta against the Giants (June 20-23) and the Dodgers (June 24-26).