In a season without much excitement left, Chris Sale made his return from injury for Atlanta against Phillies’ star Cristopher Sanchez.

After a strong first from Sanchez, Sale looked like he might be a bit rusty, walking the first Phillies batter. He then put that to bed, with three strikeouts to finish a scoreless first. Albies and Baldwin kicked off the second with two singles, but a double play and a groundout snuffed out that threat. It was largely a pitcher’s duel from there. Sale allowed a solo homer and a double in the third and Sanchez allowed a few baserunners here and there, but it was a 1-0 ballgame through 5 innings.

The Braves finally broke through in the sixth, as Profar and Olson started the inning with consecutive doubles. Drake Baldwin hit a 109 MPH grounder with two outs and Olson on third, but it was hit into the ground too much to find a hole and was the final out of the inning.

Chris Sale finished off his stellar return outing in the sixth, with a double, groundout, and double play. Sale managed 6.0 1 run innings with 9 strikeouts and 1 walk on 78 pitches. In short, he looked like Chris Sale. That’s a really reassuring sign for the veteran coming off a lengthy absence. Here’s hoping he can coast the rest of this year and come back at the beginning of next season in this kind of form. That’s about all you could ask for from Sale.

Tyler Kinley got the seventh in a tie game after a scoreless top of the inning from the Braves’ offense, which is a strange decision, but it worked in a scoreless frame with two strikeouts. An Olson two-out single was the only baserunner in the eighth for the Braves, as Pierce Johnson entered the game to hold the tie. He issued a walk and a lucky single with one out, but struck out Trea Turner before Dylan Lee came in to face Schwarber with the game on the line. Lee got Schwarber to line out, preserving the 1-1 tie going into the ninth. Both teams brought in their closers in Duran and Iglesias and both worked 1-2-3 innings.

Nacho brought home the zombie runner with a one out single in the top of the tenth, but that was all the Braves could manage on offense. Hunter Stratton was Atlanta’s choice out of the bullpen and he immediately hit Castellanos, sending him to first. Stratton did strike out Bader, but a bloop single loaded the bases with one out, ending his outing. Dylan Dodd got the call and struck out Brandon Marsh putting the game on Trea Turner with two outs and the bases loaded. Turner came through for Philly with a ground ball single to bring home the tying and winning runs for Philly. Stott’s and Turner’s singles had a .430 and .440 xBA, respectively and if either one was an out the Braves would have won, but that’s on brand for the 2025 Braves and will at least help their draft lottery odds.

Join us as the Braves look to avoid the four game sweep in Philly at 7:10 PM ET on ESPN.

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