baseball

Braves Come Back to Best Phillies 8-5 in Dramatic Opener

Patrick Conarro

Patrick Conarro

— 2 min read

Markakis’ Walk-off Blast Caps Late Rally, Sends Crowd Home Happy

For the first 5 innings of Thursday’s 2018 season-opening affair at SunTrust Park, it looked like all of Braves fans’ concerns for the new year were coming to fruition on Day One. Inconsistent starting pitching from Julio Teheran, spotty hitting with virtually no power, flimsy relief pitching–and all with the nagging feeling that their best player was 2 counties over, sitting and waiting to play AAA ball.

Braves’ fans take their places in the right-field stands in anticipation of Freddie Freeman’s big blast in the 6th inning.

That all changed over the final 4 stanzas. After the visitors posted a 4-spot on the scoreboard in the 6th to hike their lead to 5-0, the Braves’ offense finally began to stir. Freddie Freeman hit a 2-run homer in the 6th. The Braves tallied 3 more in the 8th, including another homer, this one by Ozzie Albies.

Arodys Vizcaino held the Phillies in the 9th, striking out the side and setting the stage for a dramatic finish.

The Braves garnered a 9th inning baserunner when Charlie Culberson beat out a grounder the third base. He was moved to 2nd on a sacrifice bunt by Ender Enciarte. Albies went out on a fly to left, and with 2 outs, Philadelphia then elected to walk Freeman to face Nick Markakis who was wearing an 0-for-four collar to that point.

The Phillies’ late-game shift vs. left-handed hitters did not pay off

Markakis put a swift end to all the strategizing by launching a high line shot deep into the right centerfield seats on a 1-1 count. The walk-off bomb gave the home team an 8-5 victory, earning a win for Vizcaino and setting off a delirious team celebration at home plate. Thus did 41,000 fans head home happy, into the rain to face the traffic.

To secure this win the Braves showed two assets in short supply last year—resilience and power. Of their 9 hits, 3 left the park. Who needs Acuna anyway?

The Phillies’ strategy of pulling starter Aaron Nola in the 6th backfired. So did their plan to walk Freeman in the 9th. On this day, Brian Snitker made effective moves with a late-game strategy that paid off well. So his Braves wake up today tied for 1st place in the National League East. And we’ve not been able to say that for a while.

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