Braves Rally in Extras, Walking Off Blue Jays to Take Series

The Atlanta Braves capitalized on a rare New York Mets loss, making up ground in the chase for the final NL Wild Card spot

The Atlanta Braves battled back to walk off the Toronto Blue Jays, 4-3, in eleven innings from Truist Park this afternoon. The extra-innings win, combined with the New York Mets’ Sunday loss to the Cincinnati Reds, means that the two NL East foes are once again tied for the final Wild Card spot in the National League.

Here’s what you need to know about from the contest.

Sale didn’t have his best stuff…but it didn’t matter

Chris Sale is the front-runner for the NL Cy Young, and he showed us why today.

On a day where he didn’t have his best stuff, getting only ten whiffs in his 113 pitches, he still held Toronto scoreless for six innings. He allowed five baserunners - two hits, a walk, and two HBP - but stranded all of them, with only one runner even getting into scoring position in the outing.

Sale was a little under his usual strike percentage with only 71 strikes (62.8% versus a season average of 68%) in this one, and that’s with Toronto fouling off 28 pitches, running up his count. The final inning was the biggest example of that, with Sale needing 27 pitches for the four batters thanks to nine foul balls in the inning.

But the veteran was able to get it done, showing that he’s deserving of the Cy Young as the most dominant pitcher in the National League this season. He’s now made it through sixteen consecutive starts with two or less earned runs allowed, leading the NL in ERA (2.46), wins (16/17), and strikeouts (213).

Sale also hit a career milestone today, moving into the top 50 in career strikeouts. His 2,402 strikeouts is 49th in MLB history, one ahead of Dennis Eckersley and 14 behind Luis Tiant.

Another anemic showing for the offense

That Sale was even in position to pick up a win when he left the game was a minor miracle in itself. When Sale left the game, the Braves had only three hits and had not gotten a runner into scoring position - the 1-0 lead was thanks to Jarred Kelenic’s solo homer in the 2nd inning.

For as good as the pitching staff has been, the offense has been almost as poor down the stretch, not something that can completely be blamed on injuries. (We’ll break it down on an upcoming episode of the Braves Today podcast, available wherever you get your podcasts and on YouTube.)

In the just-completed six-game homestand against the Colorado Rockies and Toronto Blue Jays, Atlanta scored 21 runs on 44 hits but with only nine extra-base hits (and only two home runs).

Only late-inning production in the final two games of this series, where the Braves scored four runs in Saturday night’s 9th inning and three innings in the 9th and extras today, made that total line somewhat respectable.

More amazing work from Iglesias

After Toronto took the lead in the 8th off of Joe Jiménez and Atlanta tied it up on a sac fly in the 9th, Raisel Iglesias took the mound for extras.

The team’s closer was excellent, pitching two innings and allowing only one unearned run to score. He gave up two hits and walked one (intentionally), but got out of a bases-loaded and one-out situation in the 10th with no runs scoring.

We’ve got more on the dominance of Iglesias (and why) coming tomorrow morning.

The entire bench chipped in for this one

Atlanta’s usage of the bench is normally limited to sending in an outfielder to play defense for Jorge Soler late. Not in this one.

Eli White checked in for Soler in the 6th inning, but the Braves weren’t done there. Travis d’Arnaud got a pinch-hit opportunity for Luke Williams in the 8th, with White moving in the infield and Ramón Laureano checking into right field for the next defensive inning. After Marcell Ozuna singled in the ninth, Adam Duvall checked in to pinch run for him. Both White and Duvall contributed to the walkoff win in the 11th, with White getting on with a phenomenal infield bunt and Duvall driving in the game-tying run with a hotshot to third that forced a throwing error.

Sean Murphy ended up cleaning it up, getting the walk-off on a groundball up the middle that Spencer Horwitz fielded and threw home too late to get White.

It’s the league-leading twelfth extra-innings win for Atlanta, which is not a stat I expected this team to be leading the entire league in based on how this season has gone.

What’s next for the Atlanta Braves?

Atlanta’s not quite ready to leave town just yet - before heading to Washington for a three-game set with the Nationals, they’ve got a makeup game at home tomorrow. The Cincinnati Reds are coming back into town and they’ll face Charlie Morton (8-7, 4.24). First pitch is scheduled from Truist Park for 6:40 PM ET.