ATLANTA (AP) — Freddie Freeman spent the previous four
seasons playing for an Atlanta team that averaged 90 losses a year.Now that the
Braves are back challenging for a division
title
Mark
Grace Jersey , the All-Star first baseman knows his club can’t afford any
long losing streaks.“It’s been four days, so I thought this was a big win for
our team,” Freeman said. “I thought we played a quality baseball game today and
hopefully we can carry that into this Philly series.”Freeman hit a two-run homer
and drove in three runs, Touki Toussaint pitched into the sixth inning and the
NL East-leading Braves snapped a four-game skid with a 7-3 victory over the St.
Louis Cardinals on Wednesday.It was a critical win for Atlanta, which is 5½
games ahead of the second-place Phillies and opens a four-game home series
against them on Thursday. Philadelphia blanked the New York Mets 4-0 on
Wednesday night.The Braves have a magic number of six over Philadelphia to
clinch their first division title since 2013.St. Louis, which had won three
straight, trails Milwaukee by three games for the top NL wild card but leads
Colorado by 1½ games for the second spot. The Rockies lost 5-2 at Dodger
Stadium.Atlanta closer A.J. Minter, working in a non-save situation in the
ninth, walked two to load the bases, but he ended it by striking out Jose
Martinez and getting Paul DeJong to pop up.Freeman’s 23rd homer, an
opposite-field shot to left-center, put the Braves up 2-0 in the fourth against
Jack Flaherty. Freeman went 3 for 3 and is hitting .405 over his past 11
games.“He’s getting the ball in the air, and it’s carrying, and that’s always a
good thing,” manager Brian Snitker said. “That’s a welcomed sight if we can get
him going.”Toussaint (2-1) allowed five hits, two runs, three walks and struck
out eight in 5 2/3 innings. A rookie making his fourth career start, Toussaint
was chased after Yadier Molina’s RBI single cut the lead to 5-2 in the sixth.“We
survived the first couple of innings with essentially zero fastball command,
then suddenly we had some decent command of it and were able to flip the script
and challenge guys with some early contacts,” Braves catcher Tyler Flowers said.
“If he gets ahead of guys, it’s a tough arsenal to defend.”Flaherty (8-8) gave
up five
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a season-high five runs and two walks with six strikeouts in 4 2/3 innings.
Facing the Braves for the first time, Flaherty began the game as the NL rookie
leader in strikeouts, winning percentage and opponents’ batting average. He had
gone 4-1 with 1.69 ERA in his previous eight starts.Flowers doubled to begin the
three-run fifth and scored on a wild pitch. Freeman chased Flaherty with an RBI
single, and the lead swelled to four runs on a double steal by Ender Inciarte
and Freeman. The Braves successfully challenged to get the call overturned that
Freeman had been tagged out.“I thought things went well early, then Freeman put
a good swing on a ball and then in that one inning things kind of got away,”
Flaherty said. “I put a couple of guys on base with walks and then Freeman put
another good swing on the ball.”Atlanta added a run to make it 6-2 in the
seventh. Inciarte doubled and scored when second baseman Kolten Wong threw
errantly to first on a potential double play grounder.Jedd Gyorko’s sacrifice
fly in the eighth cut the lead to 6-3. Flowers’ eighth homer in the bottom half
of the inning made it 7-3.At least for one game, Atlanta played well at home,
where it had dropped 14 of 18 and has won just one of its past seven
series.Freeman, who became the first Braves first baseman with 20 homers and 10
stolen bases in a season since Dale Murphy in 1978, wants his teammates to enjoy
the pennant race and not press.“It’s fun. It really is,” Freeman said. “This is
what you work for six, seven months. To be in this situation this year, it’s the
greatest feeling there is.”OUCHHarrison Bader was hit in the back of the helmet
by a pitch in the third, but he convinced St. Louis’ trainers that he wasn’t
affected and jogged to first. Going deep against Toussaint for his 12th homer in
the fifth, Bader said he felt no measure of revenge. Toussaint wasn’t trying to
hit him.“The two are completely independent of each other, honestly,” Bader
said. “I was just trying to make a good swing.”UP NEXTCardinals: RHP John Gant
(7-6, 3.53 ERA) will start when St. Louis, following a day off, opens a
three-game home series against San Francisco. He allowed six hits and six runs
in his previous start, a 17-4 loss to the Dodgers.Braves: RHP Kevin Gausman
(10-10
Kyle
Schwarber Jersey , 3.92 ERA) will make his ninth start since being
acquired in a trade with Baltimore as Atlanta tries to pad its lead on the
Phillies. He is 3-0 with a 2.45 ERA in four starts at SunTrust Park. The Dodgers
are 2-for-10 with runners in scoring position and have stranded 11 runners on
base. Trailing the Red Sox 2-0, LA will need the offense to step up if they have
any hopes of winning their first World Series in 30 years."The Dodgers trail the
Red Sox in the World Series 2-0. After two underwhelming performances, the
Dodgers will head to Los Angeles, where they’ll look to begin their quest for
four wins in five games. Through two games, LA has managed to plate six runs.
When you’re going up against the best offense in baseball, six runs might not
even be enough in one game. On Wednesday, the Dodgers only scored two runs on
three hits, and were held without a hit for the final 5 1鈦? innings. In the
series, the Dodgers are 2-for-10 with runners in scoring position. 11 runners
have been stranded on base. The opportunities have been there, they’ve just
failed to capitalize. The Red Sox on the other hand, have taken advantage of
seemingly every opportunity given to them. They’re 6-for-18 with runners in
scoring position, with most of their damage coming with two outs. In the 2018
postseason, Boston has scored more than half of their runs with two outs. The
problem for LA isn’t necessarily getting runners on base, it’s finding different
ways to bring them in. In Game 1, the Dodgers were able to string together three
consecutive hits in the third inning, tying the game at two apiece. With only
one out, runners stood at first and second. Chris Taylor struck out, followed by
a groundout from Matt Kemp. It’s situations like these in which you need to
capitalize on the opportunities handed to you. Transition into the fifth. The
Dodgers have first and second with nobody out. After a David Freese strikeout,
Manny Machado stepped to the plate. A wild-pitch would advance the runners to
second and third with one out. Machado grounded out, bringing in the tying run.
Yes, a groundout was great because it tied the
game
Kerry
Wood Jersey , but that was not the at-bat the Dodgers needed. In July, the
Dodgers acquired Machado for this very reason, his bat in the World Series. With
a chance to give LA a lead, he delivered a tie but that ball would’ve ended the
inning if not for the wild pitch. The Dodgers needed a big hit there and they
didn’t get it from Machado or Cody Bellinger, who would fly out to end the
inning.The Dodgers did their job by chasing Chris Sale after only four innings
of work. Unfortunately, they couldn’t exploit the Red Sox bullpen. Yet again,
the Dodgers had a golden opportunity when they loaded the bases in the seventh,
giving Machado another chance to do some damage. He brought in a run on a
sacrifice fly, cutting the deficit to one run. But yet again, it was not the
at-bat the Dodgers needed. Prior to Machado, two of the three previous batters
had at least three balls in their count, with Yasmani Grandal reaching on a
walk. Ryan Brasier had allowed two singles and a walk, and was struggling to
find command. Yet, on the first pitch, Machado swung at a 96-mph fastball, and
flied out. You can’t really knock Machado for driving in a run, but in such a
crucial at-bat, you would have liked him to at least try and see some pitches,
and hope for a better result. A base-hit from Machado likely brings in two, ties
the game, and puts the Dodgers in a prime opportunity to take the lead.
Bellinger had another opportunity but flew out to center to end the inning.
Switching things over to game 2. It looked as if LA was ready to blow things
wide open in the fourth inning. They had the bases loaded with nobody out. On
the first
pitch
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Kemp flied to center, bringing in a run to tie the game at one a piece. Kik茅
Hernandez followed with a solid nine-pitch-at-bat, but ultimately struck out.
Things looked to be turning in the Dodgers’ favor, as Yasiel Puig brought in one
with an RBI single. Scoring two runs and taking the lead, it was already a
successful inning for the Dodgers. Though, with the Red Sox offense looming, two
runs likely wouldn’t cut it for the game. With runners on first and third, LA
was in a prime opportunity to tack on some more runs. Austin Barnes stepped up,
and struck out on three pitches. For the Dodgers, they wouldn’t have a base
runner the rest of the game and have now stranded 87 runners in the playoffs
overall.It’s easy to blame big hitters for not breaking tha game wide open but a
sizable amount of blame belongs to the bottom half of the order as well. Hitters
five through nine in the Dodgers’ order are 2-for-34 in the first two
games.Hernadez is 0-for-6 in the World Series and 3-for-32 for the 2018
postseason. The Dodgers didn’thave a hit from center field or second base in
Boston.The tough pill to swallow is the fact that the Dodgers could have taken
either one of these games, possibly both. The opportunities have been there for
the taking, the Dodgers just haven’t stepped up to the task. With the series
heading to Los Angeles, the series is far from over. Boston still has to win two
more games, and they will be without their best starting pitcher until game 5,
giving the Dodgers the perfect chance to get back into the series. As we’ve seen
all postseason, the Dodgers have no problem getting runners on base. However, if
they have any hopes of coming back, and delivering the city of Los Angeles their
first World Series in 30 years, this Dodgers team will need to step up, and show
they are a championship caliber team.
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