Today's Three Things: Braves walk off Reds in eleven innings to take the series
The Atlanta Braves emptied their bench and held on for a wild win in the finale
The Atlanta Braves got a 5-4 win in eleven innings against the Cincinnati Reds in Truist Park on Thursday night to officially win the series three games to one.
Here’s Today’s Three Things from the contest.
The Turning Point
The top of the 7th inning.
Nursing a one-run lead, Rafael Montero replaced Spencer Schwellenbach on the mound and almost immediately got into trouble.
After giving up a hard-hit out to Santiago Espinal, Montero walked Tyler Stephenson and the pinch-runner advanced to third on a Jose Trevino double to left. After another walk loaded the bases, Atlanta pulled the plug on Montero and went to Dylan Lee.
The lefty gave up a single to right that scored one run and tied the game at two, but Eli White’s strong throw home prevented the catcher Trevino from scoring from 2nd. Lee then rebounded with back-to-back strikeouts of Matt McLain and Elly De La Cruz, the last one taking four strikes after a blown call by home plate umpire Brian Walsh.
Any time you’re coming into a bases-loaded situation and can hold the opponent to one run or less, you’ve done your job.
Today’s Player of the Game
The centerfielder picked up three hits tonight, none bigger than the RBI double in the 9th inning that tied things up at four.
With the Braves trailing after a two-run homer in the top of the 9th (more on that in a moment), Atlanta opened the bottom of the 9th with an Ozzie Albies walk and a Sean Murphy single, pushing Ozzie to third. Eli White scored Ozzie on a sacrifice bunt and pinch-runner Eddie Rosario, in for Murphy, advanced to second.
Harris then battled through an at-bat, fouling off a good inside slider before singling on a belt-high but inside cutter to left field with an inside-out swing. Rosario scored from 2nd on the play and Harris advanced all the way to third on the off-line throw by Gavin Lux in left field. While the Braves couldn’t bring him in to complete the walk-off - Drake Baldwin struck out and Alex Verdugo grounded out - they arguably wouldn’t have even been in position to win the game were it not for Harris’s offensive heroics late.
What You’ll Be Talking About
More Raisel Iglesias stumbles.
Iggy came on in a tie game in the 9th and immediately struggled. Facing the bottom of the order, he gave up a one-out double to catcher Jose Trevino (his third of the game) and then the homer to Hinds. Trevino got his double off an elevated sinker, sitting in the upper third of the zone, while Hinds got his homer off of a center-cut slider. The first two were fantastic, down and away, but when he tried to go back to the well a third time, he left it in the zone and Hinds didn’t miss it.
That’s now a 5.40 ERA for Iglesias on the season, and it’s primarily been on homers. After allowing just four homers in 66 appearances last season, Iggy’s now at six homers allowed in just 15 appearances.
Related: Daysbel Hernàndez could be the closer of the future for the Atlanta Braves
What’s Next for the Braves?
Atlanta’s taking a late-night flight to Pittsburgh to take on the struggling Pirates for three this weekend. Both teams have already announced their starters for the series, one in which the Braves will avoid reigning NL Rookie of the Year and Cy Young finalist Paul Skenes:
Friday (6:40 PM ET): Bryce Elder vs Bailey Falter
Saturday (4:05 PM ET): AJ Smith-Shawver vs Andrew Heaney
Sunday (1:35 PM ET): Chris Sale vs Carmen Mlodzinski
It was great to see the comeback effort.
All I'll say is welcome back Michael Harris! So glad to see his work starting to pay off. Go Braves!