Wheely Good: Phillies 4, Braves 2
· Yahoo Sports
Every baseball fan is familiar with the scam known as the shell game— after all, it’s present, in more innocuous form, in the cap shuffle ubiquitous to scoreboards. Tonight Zack Wheeler offered the visiting Braves a shell game, tempting them with three baserunners through three at-bats… but when the Braves selected their shell, there weren’t very many runs underneath.
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The start was rather subpar for the home crowd, with Wheeler allowing a pair of singles to the first two Braves, then walking Matt Olson to load the bases with none away. But a pop fly and a strikeout (aided by a canny ABS challenge from J.T. Realmuto) put him just a single out away from pulling off the great escape. Ozzie Albies flew out to center, and the Braves trudged back to the dugout with the dreaded NOBLETIGER (No Outs, Bases Loaded, Ending in Team Incapable of Getting Easy Runs, it’s a real term) nipping at their heels.
But the Phillies would give Atlanta starter Martin Pérez a rougher start. Kyle Schwarber and Trea Turner worked walks to start off the game, with the former dashing for third on a fly out from Bryce Harper, and slipping right past the tag. A single to right from Luis Arraez scored him, and the bases were then loaded on a walk of Alec Bohm. Realmuto walked to bring in a run (an ABS challenge on ball four proved fruitless for the visitors). The inning ended when Ronald Acuña Jr, looking truly superb, leapt into the air to turn a line drive from Bryson Stott into out number three.
Wheeler’s second inning of work was a far smoother affair, with three up and three down. Pérez could not say the same. Derek Hill lined a ball to right, and Acuña suddenly looked far less superb, stumbling and allowing Hill to reach third. He then scored when Matt Olson bobbled a grounder at first.
The roller coaster ride that is Ronald then took another sudden swerve in the top of the third as he sent a Wheeler sweeper deep, deep into the left field seats. But the Phillies were certainly not inclined to let themselves be outslugged in their own ballpark: in the bottom of the fourth, Schwarber knocked a Pérez pitch over the fence in right. Two more hits, both with two outs, ensued, and Pérez’s night ended.
Acuña came up to the plate again with two outs in the fifth; both of his predecessors in the inning had walked away with Ks. The Citizens Bank Park crowd expressed their particular feelings for the Peach State superstar, roaring with delight whenever he fouled the ball off; the cheers reached a fever pitch when he whiffed for strike three.
Wheeler wrapped up his start after the sixth: three hits, one earned run, two walks, nine strikeouts. Jonathan Bowlan took over, allowing a homer to Austin Riley to narrow the score to 4-2. José Alvarado took the eighth, and kept the score where it was. And so, it was time for Jhoan Duran to do his thing. He did, striking out Michael Harris II, inducing a ground out from Mauricio Dubon, and another from Albies. That’s the game.
The Phillies are 80-62. They return to action on Sunday at 1:o5 for game three of the series.