The Braves completed the two-game sweep of the Red Sox last night after an 8-4 win.
First, Kyle Wright dominated that Boston lineup. He threw six innings on only 77 pitches; notched five strikeouts, one walk, and one earned run.
Dylan Lee, AJ Minter, & Raise Iglesias worked in relief. And Kirby Yates made his Braves debut when he came in in the bottom of the 7th to get the final out of the inning.
The understated reason why this win was one of the most encouraging wins in a month is because when it was 5-1 Atlanta, Tommy Pham hit a 3-run homerun off of Dylan Lee to pull within one. BUT THEN, Atlanta answered that comeback with separation by adding two runs to their lead, THEN putting up a zero in the bottom half of the inning.
Championship teams make it a habit to squash oppositional momentum. When they have a lead that gets chipped away at or wiped out all at once, they respond by adding to their run total; which is exactly what the Braves did to the Red Sox last night.
VAUGHN GRISSOM
The BIG story from yesterday is the debut of Vaughn Grissom. Ozzie Albies & Orlando Arcia’s injuries created not only a hole, but a crater at second base. A crater that the Braves could not afford to let Ehire Adrianza patch up, as long as black hole Marcell Ozuna is hitting in the Braves lineup.
So, in steps Alex Anthopoulos making a mockery of traditional baseball’s unwritten arbitrary service time rule at each level of minor league baseball. Vaughn is now the second player to be called up to Atlanta without making a stop in AAA Gwinnett.
Vaughn’s primary position is shortstop, but middle infield is middle infield. He’ll play second base until Ozzie Albies returns. At which time, I anticipate him moving to the DH platoon or just flat out be the DH.
He’s obviously got power, he showed that by smashing a ball out of Fenway last night for his first MLB hit. He can also steal bases, as he showed last night; something Marcell Ozuna can only dream about.
Get comfortable Atlanta, our guys are here.