Southern hospitality was not on the cards for the Colorado Rockies tonight. The Atlanta Braves rode a big first inning all the way to a 5-2 series win over the Rockies as their rude welcome to Atlanta continued for another night.
As I mentioned in the opening sentence, the Braves were fast and furious when it came to establishing themselves in this one. The Rockies had a pair of baserunners in the first inning but Charlie Morton was able to successfully navigate the storm with a pair of groundouts and his first strikeout of the night. Meanwhile, Atlanta got some offense going with two outs in their half of the first inning. Bradley Blalock surely felt like he was going to receive a warm welcome back to Georgia after picking up those first two outs but then Marcell Ozuna and Matt Olson combined to bring him back to reality with a pair of doubles to make it 1-0 Atlanta.
With Olson still on base, Travis d’Arnaud coaxed a walk out of Blalock and that brought Jarred Kelenic to the plate. It’s been a while since we last saw Kelenic go deep for the Braves — it’s been nearly a month, if you’ve been counting along at home. Fortunately for all of us, the counting came to an end tonight after Kelenic got a pitch he liked from Blalock and sent it flying into the seats in the Chop House for a big three-run shot to make it 4-0 Braves.
After the Braves were done in the first inning, the obvious hope was that Charlie Morton would be able to clamp down and cruise from that point forward. The good news is that he did eventually end up rolling but it didn’t start in the second inning. The second was when our old friend Sam Hilliard got the Rockies on the board with a triple on a ground ball down the line that Jorge Soler had a lot of trouble dealing with. Morton had a chance to get out of the frame with just the one run allowed but as if on cue, Charlie Blackmon made his presence felt against the Braves and looped one into right field to bring home Hilliard and make it 4-2 Braves. Morton struck out Ezequiel Tovar to end the frame but the game was close again.
The game stayed that close for the next three innings as both teams had traffic on the basepaths for each frame but neither were able to make much of anything happen. Charlie Morton’s night was done after five innings and it was the type of steady performance that you like to see from him. The two runs he gave up in the second inning were the only two runs he’d surrender on the night. He gave up five hits and walked three batters but he struck out eight and made sure that the streak of Braves pitchers giving up three runs or less in their starts went on for another night.
Bradley Blalock was also done after five innings, as Jake Bird got the ball to throw in relief for the Rockies. Just like Blalock, the first two batters that Bird faced went about as well it could get and then he ran into trouble. Michael Harris II took the second pitch he saw from Bird and sent it into right field for a double and then Jorge Soler made his presence felt at the plate by smacking one right up the middle for an RBI single that gave the Braves a bit more breathing room at 5-2. The Braves added a pair of baserunners immediately afterwards but the inning ended after Luis Peralta had to come in and finish what Jake Bird had started.
From then on out, it was basically academic for the Braves since this is the type of position that this Atlanta team thrives in. Dylan Lee got the ball for the seventh inning and sat down the Rockies in order to make it to the eighth inning. Joe Jiménez took the baton in the eighth inning and retired the Colorado batters in order — including this nifty play from Luke Williams to end the inning.
Finally, it was time for Raisel Iglesias to tell the Rockies to roll out of his business. Iglesias got Michael Toglia to fly out on his first pitch, he struck out Nolan Jones on three pitches and while Sam Hilliard was able to make it on base via a walk, Iglesias sent the Rockies back to the Holiday Inn with a game-ending strikeout to pick up his 30th save of the season and — most importantly — the 76th win of the season for the Braves.
Thanks to a solid effort from Charlie Morton and a big first inning from the lineup, this game was a smooth one for the Braves. They got the job done by picking up the series victory while also making sure that the Mets didn’t gain any more ground on them as they picked up the win against the Red Sox. Atlanta’s now in prime position to complete their fantasy of a sweep this week and with Reynaldo López starting for the Braves tomorrow night at 7:20 pm E.T., you have to like their chances. Atlanta may not be in the number one spot at the moment but as long as they keep winning then they’ll have a very good shot of returning back to the glamorous life of the Postseason.
