Today’s Three Things: Braves Win Ugly Finale to Close Out First 'Half'

The Atlanta Braves have earned themselves a few days off after preventing the Cardinals from sweeping them in St. Louis

The Atlanta Braves won the series finale against the St. Louis Cardinals 4-3 in Busch Stadium on Sunday to avert a sweep.

Here is Today’s Three Things from the contest.

The Turning Point

The game turned in the top of the 9th.

Tied at three each, both teams were prepared to use their leverage relievers to close this one out. Facing lefty JoJo Romero, Ozzie Albies got the rally started with a one-out double to left. After advancing to third on a Matt Olson groundout, things then got weird.

Michael Harris II was ‘hit’ by an up-and-in fastball, a sinker on an 0-2 count, that was upheld after review. Cardinals manager Oli Marmol was apoplectic, as this wasn’t the first call of the day to go against St. Louis, and was ejected from the contest.

But Harris made the most of it, hitting the jets on a potential inning-ending ground ball to short. With strong-armed Masyn Winn realizing late that he wouldn’t be able to get the ball to the bag ahead of Harris, he pivoted and fired towards first…but right into the home dugout. Ozzie trotted home as the winning run, and Raisel Iglesias closed this one out with two groundouts and a strikeout for his 19th save of the season (in 20 chances).

Today’s Player of the Game

For the first time in his career, it’s Brewer Hicklen.

The outfielder was called up on Saturday after an injury to Mike Yastrzemski and showed the same penchant for clutch hitting that produced the walkoff run for Triple-A Gwinnett on Friday night.

Hicklen finished today’s game with two hits, a ground ball through the left side in the 4th and a run-scoring double to left-center in the 6th. That second hit represented both his first extra-base hit and his first RBI in the majors, despite having debuted in 2022 and getting into ten MLB games across the last four seasons.

Said Hicklen after the game, “It’s such a blessing. I think back to the journey that it’s taken to get here and really can’t put into words how thankful I am for the Braves organization.” Hicklen explained that as an Alabama native, he grew up as a Braves fan and this is the culmination of a childhood dream to put on the uniform.

With Mike Yastrzemski’s elbow issue leaving his return timeline unknown, Hicklen’s going to get at least a few more starts before potentially being optioned back down to Gwinnett.

What You’ll Be Talking About

The ugliness of this game.

I’ve covered baseball for six years and watched it for nearly 40 because I truly enjoy this game, and there’s nothing sweeter than a well-played, close battle between two teams.

This was not that.

The Cardinals committed two errors today, with St. Louis losing the game more so than Atlanta winning it. The Braves had an ineffective opener in Danny Young (0.2IP, 1H, 2BB, 1ER) ahead of JR Ritchie, who actually pitched well with just one run on one hit and two walks in 4.1 innings. The Braves went 2-for-11 with runners in scoring position and stranded 12 on base, while twelve total pitchers got into the game for the two teams combined.

But a win is a win, and the Braves enter the All-Star Break fifteen games over .500 at 55-40, as well as two games up on Philadelphia in the NL East. They looked sluggish today (their last day off was June 29th) and need the extended break before the final sprint to the postseason.

Looking for more discussion about this game?

Here’s tonight’s Postcast, with me and Locked On Braves host Jake Mastroianni, as we went live to break down the contest.

What’s Next for the Braves?

The Braves are back in action on Friday, at home against the Texas Rangers at 7:15 PM.