Coming into this series, the Atlanta Braves had apparently righted the ship following a series win over the Nationals that pushed them to .500. If Atlanta won this series in Fenway against the Red Sox, they’d finally be over .500.
With that being said, the Red Sox were in a similar position heading into this series. Boston entered this series floating around .500, themselves, and were looking to bounce back after having gotten swept by the Tigers immediately before this series. Both teams were looking to make progress on their own ways and as I mentioned in the series preview, one team would be leaving Fenway following this series at or even over .500. Obviously we were all hoping that this would be the Braves and it was clear from the earliest part of this series that the Braves were very much intending on being the ones to finish this series on top.
Friday, May 16Braves 4, Red Sox 2
We were promised an intense pitchers’ duel between Chris Sale and Garrett Crochet and for the most part, that’s what we got. This was a pretty close game for the most part, as the back-to-back home runs from Matt Olson and Sean Murphy held up for most of the contest. Rob Refsnyder hit a dinger that brought the Red Sox within one run but that’s as close as Boston got to toppling the Braves in this one. Chris Sale was excellent and outdueled Garrett Crochet in this one.
The Braves got some breathing room in the latter stages of this one. Liam Hendriks and Brennan Bernardino both had a rough go of it and thanks to some walks and some timely hitting, the Braves were able to push it to a 4-1 lead. Trevor Story added on an RBI single against Raisel Iglesias in the ninth inning but he kept it steady and made sure that the Braves tarted this series on a high note.
Saturday, May 17Red Sox 7, Braves 6
For a while, it sure seemed like Grant Holmes and the Braves were starting to work on picking up a sweep. The Braves were up 3-0 (with back-to-back homers from Matt Olson and Marcell Ozuna) before Holmes eventually stepped on the mound and did his thing. In fact, Atlanta eventually ran it up to 5-0 thanks to a third-inning dinger from Drake Baldwin. All was well and all was right.
Then the collapse began. Holmes gave up two runs in the third inning and even though the Braves got one of those runs back in the fourth inning, Aaron Bummer and Enyel De Los Santos conceded a pair of runs in the seventh and then Pierce Johnson gave up a game-tying two-RBI single to Jarren Duran that tied it all up in the eighth inning. Johnson stayed out there for the ninth inning and the collapse was completed with Rafael Devers hitting a walk-off homer to even the series at one win apice.
Sunday, May 18Braves 10, Red Sox 4
Following the gut-punch of a loss on Saturday night, a nice, emphatic, bounce-back win for the Braves was exactly what the doctor ordered. Atlanta got out to a 2-0 first inning lead and then they pushed it to a three-run lead in the third inning. Spencer Schwellenbach had a solid outing but Boston’s half of the third inning ended up being by far his worst inning of the day. Rafael Devers hit a go-ahead grand slam in order to turn the game around despite Atlanta’s early control.
The good news is that the Braves immediately responded. They tied the game up in the fourth inning with an Austin Riley RBI single and then the Braves took advantage of Brayan Bello losing control of his stuff by picking up three more runs in the fifth — a bases loaded walk for Michael Harris II, an RBI single from Eli White and a sacrifice fly from Nick Allen pushed Atlanta back in front. The Braves put the icing on the cake in the eighth inning, as Matt Olson hit a sacrifice fly and then Marcell Ozuna hit a two-out dinger out to the streets in order to bring us to the final score of 10-4 Braves.
We can lament the blown second game all we want but other than that collapse, this was a great performance over three games on the road for the Braves. Chris Sale’s efforts in the first game lived up to the lofty expectations that his pitching matchup with Garrett Crochet promised, Grant Holmes did well in his outing and Spencer Schwellenbach’s only mistake was cancelled out by Atlanta’s lineup bringing the heat at the plate on Sunday. They also did a good job of hitting throughout the series. Marcell Ozuna and Matt Olson both clearly enjoy hitting at Fenway Park and Drake Baldwin continues to show up and show out whenever he gets a chance.
This was a great way to make sure that the Braves headed into a rare off day on Monday on a high note. The Braves have just gotten done with a stretch of 17 days in a row without an offday and the good news is that they’ll be heading into that day of rest over .500. It’s been a long and arduous trip back to having a winning record but the Braves are here now and hopefully they’ll stay over .500 going forward. We’ll see if that’s the case but for now, the Braves are on a very solid run at the moment and hopefully they’ll continue moving onwards and upwards as far as this season is concerned.
