Braves rally late to defeat Astros in extra innings

| April 17, 2024 | Other Clubs | No Comments

The Braves recovered late in the game to overcome the Astros in extra innings after appearing to struggle all day.

The Atlanta Braves faced the Houston Astros this afternoon in the series finale.

In the first inning, Ronald Acuña hit a fly ball single in front of the center fielder and advanced to second on J.P. France’s balk on an attempted steal. However, France was able to retire the following three batters without any damage.

Fried labored in the first inning, but was fortunate to just allow one run. Altuve hit the ball hard (98.2 MPH) to Riley, resulting in an out, but Yordan Alvarez drove one over the left field fence for a 1-0 advantage. Interestingly, Minute Maid Park is the only park where the hit would have resulted in a home run. Fried then walked Bregman. Yainer Diaz smashed a single between Acuña and Guillorme after Fried had Tucker line out. With runners on the corners, Fried hit a fly ball to finish the inning.

The Braves quickly rallied, with Marcell Ozuna blasting a no-doubter over the left field wall to tie the game and extend his hitting streak to sixteen games. Ozuna’s hit would have been a home run in each of the thirty ballparks. Arcia followed up with a double off the wall, but the Braves couldn’t capitalize, leaving him stranded at second base.

Fried walked Abreu in the second inning, but he looked much sharper, inducing two ground balls, one of which resulted in a double play.

The Braves had two runners on base in the third inning (Acuña reached on an error and Matt Olson walked), but failed to score any runs. Ozuna broke his third bat of the series to end the top inning.

Fried began the third inning with his third walk of the game, which came on four pitches to Altuve. He was able to induce another groundball, which led to a double play. Fried then walked Bregman, his fourth hitter of the game, before striking out Kyle Tucker, the Astros’ cleanup hitter, to close the inning.

In the fourth inning, Acuña hit his first big fly of the season, going over the wall in dead center.

The Astros responded with three consecutive singles, the third of which was an RBI by Bregman, who scored Altuve. Kyle Tucker then doubled, giving the Astros a 3-2 edge. Fried successfully ended the rally by striking out Diaz and forcing a groundball from Jeremy Peña.

Jesse Chavez entered the game in the sixth inning to relieve Max Fried. Fried pitched 5.0 innings, walking four and striking out only two, while allowing three earned runs.

Chavez gave up a home run to Mauricio Dubón, the first man he saw, leaving the Braves behind 2-4. However, Chavez settled down and was able to finish his inning with reasonable ease, despite Altuve’s single and stolen base.

The game remained rather quiet until the top of the eighth inning, when the Braves came back. Michael Harris singled off Ryan Pressly, and Austin Riley followed with a ground-rule double. Jose Abreu bungled Matt Olson’s grounder, and everyone was safe as a result. Michael Harris crossed the plate, reducing the Astros’ advantage to one.

Ozuna struck out, but Orlando Arcia hit a sacrifice fly to center field, allowing Austin Riley to tie the game 4-4.

D’Arnaud walked, and after a wild pitch, they were on second and third. Kelenic hit out for the second time, stopping Atlanta’s eighth-inning outburst.

Joe Jiménez and A.J. Minter pitched a terrific 1.1 and 0.2 innings, respectively, to get through the Astros’ opening three batters and force extra innings.

Riley struck out in the top of the eleventh inning, with Harris at second. Matt Olson was then purposefully walked to face Marcell Ozuna in an attempt to force a double play. Ozuna lined out, giving the Braves two outs. With two outs and a seventh runner on base, Orlando Arcia singled to score Harris.

Travis d’Arnaud struck out to finish the top of the tenth inning. The Braves were leading 5-4. The Braves finished the game 1-14 with RISP.

In the bottom of the tenth, Raisel Iglesias entered to try to close out the game. He walked Kyle Tucker, the first batter she saw. Diaz launched a fly ball that advanced the runner to third, but Iglesias was able to cause the Astros’ third GIDP, which ended the game.

The Braves swept the Houston Astros at Minute Maid Park. Next, the Braves will return home to face the reigning World Series champion Texas Rangers on Friday.

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