*Photo from the Index Journal*
Early in the season, the Atlanta Braves are showing some of that resilience that they had at the end of last season. Ozzie Albies homered, Adam Duvall drove in two big runs, and the Braves rallied to defeat the San Diego Padres with a 5-2 win on Friday night in San Diego.
Facing a starting pitcher they had never seen before, and a plethora of relief pitchers with different looks out of all of them, the Braves hitting core was able to hang tough, extending at bats and getting on base when they needed to. The only reason Duvall did what he was able to do was because of a lengthy at bat by Travis D'Arnaud before him, getting on base to get to Duvall.
Braves manager Brian Snitker said that "Their bullpen’s deep, too. Every time it swings open, it’s a live arm. There’s a lot of different things to hit against. It’s not easy hitting against all the arms you see, especially coming out of everybody’s bullpen."
Getting the start for the Braves was Kyle Wright, who went toe to toe with the Padres bats. Wright allowed two runs on 5 hits, walking no one and striking out 9. AJ Minter, Darren O'Day, Tyler Matzek, and Kenley Jansen combined for a shutout in relief, with Jansen getting his first save in a Braves uniform.
The scoring started in the 3rd inning, when Albies put the Braves ahead 1-0, cranking a solo home run to left field, his 3rd home run of the season. Marcell Ozuna then put the Braves ahead 2-0, doubling the lead with an RBI single to right field, scoring Austin Riley.
In the 5th inning, Ha-Seong Kim put the Padres on the board, hitting an RBI single to score CJ Abrams, making it a 2-1 Braves lead. Kim then came around to score on an RBI double from Manny Machado, tying the game 2-2 after 5 innings. In the 8th, Duvall came up with a big two run double, scoring Riley and D'Arnaud to put the Braves up 4-2. Duvall then scored on a wild pitch to make it 5-2 Braves.
Duvall said of his 8th inning at bat that "He threw me a couple of curveballs, and I thought maybe they might try to sneak one in, a fastball. All night, they’d been pounding me with fastballs. That’s the chess match you’ve got to play. Sometimes you guess right, and sometimes you guess wrong. In that instance, I kind of went with my gut there."
Rookie Mackenzie Gore made his MLB debut for the Padres, allowing two runs on 3 hits and two walks, striking out 3 hitters over 5 1/3 innings. Pierce Johnson got the loss, allowing 3 runs in 2/3 of an inning, pitching the 8th. A relief combo of Luis Garcia, Robert Suarez, and Dinelson Lamet kept the Braves scoreless.
Padres starting pitcher Joe Musgrove said of Gore's debut that "It was like night and day different from what we’d seen the year before. And not only the stuff. The way he carries himself, and the confidence he has this year that it seemed like he was lacking last year is very noticeable."
The Padres and Braves continue their series on Saturday afternoon, with Ian Anderson toeing the rubber for Atlanta, while Nick Martinez will get the start for the Padres.
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