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Braves 5 Reds 4 (10)
Sean Murphy hit the first pitch by Derek Law for a two-run walk-off homer as the Braves gut-punched the Reds 5-4 Monday night at Truist Park. The Reds had rallied with two runs in the 9th to tie the game and took the lead 4-3 in the top of the 10th.
Jonathan India had delivered a single, his third hit of the night to score Jose Barrero (started 10th as runner at 2B) with the go-ahead run in the 10th inning.
Law was the Reds fourth pitcher of the night as the bullpen allowed three runs.
It was a good ole fashion pitcher's duel between starters Graham Ashcraft and Bryce Elder. The game was scoreless to the bottom of the 6th when the Braves put together back to back hits capped by a Murphy RBI double.
Ashcraft: 6.0 IN, 6 H, 2 R, 3 BB, 7 K, 97 pitches/63 strikes. You could tell by the look on the face of Braves hitters that he was throwing some filth. His slider was something. He badly bounced two pitches to start the 7th, walking Orlando Arcia, and he was done.
Elder: 6.1 IN, 6 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 7 K, 103 pitches/70 strikes. He's thrown 12.1 consecutive scoreless innings to begin the season. He was recalled to take the place of Max Fried (IL) in the rotation. The 23-year old was a 5th round pick of the Braves out of the University of Texas in 2020. He made his ML debut last season.
8th inning action: Trailing 2-0 in the 8th, Jonathan India double with one out and was plated by a Jake Fraley RBI single to make it 2-1.
9th inning action: Wil Myers singled to leadoff the inning. PH Stuart Fairchild clobbered a ball off the glove of a leaping LF Kevin Pillar above the wall. The ball charomed off his glove, bounced off the yellow stripe and bounced back into play for an RBI triple to make it 3-2. I'm still not sure how it didn't go out. Spencer Steer then flipped a parachute single into right field for a game-tying RBI single....3-3. But Kevin Newman bounced into a DP and Barrero grounded out.
Pitcher's best friend: Each starting pitcher put the first two batters of the game on, but got double plays to avoid damage.
Each induced two DP's inside the first five innings.
Bullpen: Buck Farmer came on with one on/0 outs in 7th...0.2, H, 2 K. Reiver Sanmartin came on for Farmer to face LH hitting Matt Olsen and walked him to load the bases. Then he uncorked a wild pitch, that Stephenson should have blocked, and a run scored. That was a killer run as the Reds would score a run in the 8th inning. The Braves added another run off Sanmartin in the 8th. Alexis Diaz came in for the 9th. He issued a two out walk but escaped damage. That's 12 walks in 21.2 innings of pitching the 9th for Diaz in his career. Derek Law took the 9th vs 4-5-6 in the Braves over....but faced just Murphy.
Not sure I've seen that before: Ozzie Albies hit a smash to the back hand of Barrero at SS. Barrero put his glove down and the ball his his foot (?) and deflected into left field for a hit. Albies later scored.
3 runs: Benson's little league throw led to a run. WP/PB led to a run. Barrero ball hit off his foot for a single, that later scored. Reds don't have that kind of margin for error.
Double it: Jose Barrero, who entered the game two hits on the season, collected two on the night. Steer 2 hits, India 3 hits.
Halt! Hitting streaks stop for Friedl (6) and Stephenson (8).
The struggle is real: Will Benson went 0 for 3 and is now 1 for 18 on the season. If he's going to offer nothing at the plate he has to make better throws to the plate than that the one from shallow LF that was off the mark on the Braves first run.
The Reds could use some pop from Stephenson: He has just 6 home runs in his last 200 at-bats going back to last season.
Time of game: 2:47
Next: Luis Cessa takes the mound Tuesday night, 7:20.