The Atlanta Braves singled and doubled their way to their sixth win in seven tries against the Dimaondbacks on Friday night, recording 11 hits on their way to an 8-2 win.
The pitching matchup of Chris Sale and Zac Gallen carried a ton of name value, but on Friday night, both pitchers painfully labored through the early innings with no semblance of command.
The Braves did something in the second inning that was a sight for sore eyes — string together a bunch of hits (without the benefit of a homer) to put up a crooked number. Michael Harris singled and Eli White bounced a ball down the left field line to plate the first run of the game. Arizona native Alex Verdugo followed with a sky-scraping bloop double that landed perfectly on the left field line to make it 2-0. Austin Riley followed with an RBI single to make it 3-0.
In the fourth, as Sale logged his 90th (!) pitch, Arizona trimmed the lead by one with a two-out single by way of Jorge Barrosa.
Sale’s stuff looks fine and his fastball velocity was in the mid-upper 90s on Friday. There were many two-strike counts where Sale just couldn’t put Arizona’s hitters away. He just doesn’t have any command of the baseball. It seems to be a mechanical issue at this point, and hopefully one the coaching staff can figure out immediately.
Gallen only lasted five innings himself before giving way to the bullpen. He threw 59 pitches the first two innings and managed to settled in after the second.
The Braves scratched across two more runs in the sixth. With two on and two out, Eli White chopped a ball on the infield. Eugenio Suarez had to rush his throw from third and skipped it, allowing a run to come home and score. Nick Allen followed with an RBI single the other way that just snuck past the second baseman to make it 5-1.
In the bottom of the seventh, Dylan Lee entered and nearly surrendered a two-run shot to Corbin Carroll, but the call was overturned on replay and went just wide of the foul pole. It would have cut the lead to 5-3 but mercifully did not.
In the eighth, the Braves broke the game wide open. Sean Murphy doubled, Ozzie Albies doubled and Eli White singled to push the score to 7-1. Riley added another base knock the extend the lead to 8-1.
The Diamondbacks scored one against Jesse Chavez in the 8th, but that would be all she wrote.
The Braves have won six of seven. Their record is 11-14.
If you didn’t stay up late to watch, a tidy summary of the night’s action is here:
The series continues Saturday night in Phoenix as Grant Holmes is set to face righty Merrill Kelly, who enters with a 3-1 record, 4.73 ERA, 4.26 FIP and 4.67 xFIP. Holmes will need to have his command against an Arizona lineup that ranks near the top of the league in walk rate and on base percentage. First pitch is a little earlier at 8:10 p.m. ET.
