It was a battle of the lefty aces in Philly on Saturday, as Chris Sale led the Braves against Cristopher Sanchez and the Phillies, with Atlanta seeking to secure a series win.
Ronald Acuna led off the game with a 107 MPH, 404 foot fly ball that landed for an out due to a Brandon MArsh robbery and perhaps the 2026 ball design instead of a home run or an extra-base-hit that it very easily could have been. Notably, in the second, Austin Riley hit a ball at over 111 MPH that landed for a single, but wasn’t able to come around to score.
The scoring got kicked off in the bottom of the second, as Phillies’ rookie Felix Reyes hit a 348 foot home run off of Chris Sale. Fortunately, Atlanta’s offense got a spark with a two out single from Drake Baldwin with some help in the form of an error that they converted into three runs with a walk and two soft singles. There was a lot of fortune involved in this sequence for Atlanta. Sale worked around a Schwarber single to consolidate the lead in the home third, striking out Harper along the way. Ronald hit a 109 MPH single in the fourth, as he continues to hit the ball very hard, but the Braves were unable to bring him around. Ozzie managed a bloop single in the fifth after a clean inning from Sale, but the Braves were again unable to bring him around.
Sale attempted and nearly converted an incredible jump throw on a swinging bunt to lead off the fifth, but the runner was erased on a double-play from Marsh regardless on the way to another scoreless frame. Jonah Heim of all people created a threat with a one out double in the sixth out of the eight hole. Neither Mateo nor Acuna were able to get the hit to bring him home. Jose Alvarado replaced Sanchez in the seventh and Matt Olson managed a lefty-on-lefty double with two outs to give Austin Riley an opportunity to tack a run on. Alvarado struck out Austin to hold the lead to two runs. Sale finished his outing in the seventh, ending up with 7.0 innings of 1 run ball, 1 walk, and 7 strikeouts. Sale also passed Tom Glavine on the career strikeouts list in this outing, which is pretty cool.
The Braves put together another chance for some insurance runs in the eighth, as Jonah Heim poked an opposite-field single through and Michael Harris drew a walk (!!!) with two outs ahead of Acuna. Ronald drew a walk to load the bases, despite Philly challenging a pitch that was at least 3 inches above the zone to bring up Drake Baldwin. Baldwin grounded out, squandering another threat, as Atlanta turned to Dylan Lee to preserve the 2 run lead with 6 outs left in the game. Lee worked a 1-2-3 inning with an assist from a slick diving play by Ozzie. Suarez got the ninth instead of Iglesias in a save situation and was absolutely dominant in a 1-2-3 inning with two strikeouts.
That’s another series win through seven series now this season and the Braves are 14-7 with a 5.0 game division lead. Join us tomorrow as Grant Holmes leads the attempt of a sweep in Philadelphia against Andrew Painter.
