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Kyle Wright pitched six scoreless innings as the Braves beat the
visiting Philadelphia Phillies 3-0 to even their National League
Division Series at one game apiece.
The Phillies won the opener 7-6 on Tuesday, and with the second
game scoreless into the sixth inning, they had thoughts of
heading home with a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five series.
Wright (1-0) made sure that didn't happen.
The 27-year-old right-hander, who went 21-5 during the regular
season, allowed two hits and one walk while striking out six. He
threw 83 pitches, 52 of them for strikes. It was his seventh
scoreless start of the year.
While the Braves were winning a World Series championship last
year, Wright made just two postseason appearances. Both came in
relief during the Fall Classic against the Houston Astros, when
he pitched to a 1.59 ERA.
"I had success in the postseason last year, but to do it as a
start, that was pretty cool to me," Wright said. "I think I've
worked on a lot of things this year. Really just goes back to
confidence.
"I feel I had the confidence to pitch at this stage. (The
Phillies have) a really good lineup and I knew that. But I knew
if I executed then I was going to give myself a chance, and I
really believe that."
The Braves' bullpen closed out a three-hitter. A.J Minter
pitched a perfect seventh, Raisel Iglesias worked around a hit
in the eighth and Kenley Jansen retired the side in order in the
ninth to earn a save. It was Jansen's 20th career postseason
save.
Atlanta produced all three of the game's runs in the sixth
inning on two-out RBI singles from Matt Olson, Austin Riley and
Travis d'Arnaud.
The series moves to Philadelphia for Game 3 on Friday and Game 4
on Saturday. The two teams split 10 games in Philadelphia this
year. Game 5, if necessary, would be back in Atlanta on Sunday.
The start of Game 2 was delayed by 2 hours, 55 minutes after
heavy rain moved into the Atlanta area in the morning.
"To weather the rain delay and the way (Wright) went about it
was huge for us," Atlanta manager Brian Snitker said. "We need
to be able to get to our back-end guys. What he did tonight was
pretty impressive."
The Braves were able to defeat nemesis Zack Wheeler (0-1), who
beat the Braves twice during the regular season. In six innings,
the Atlanta-area native gave up three runs on four hits and one
walk with five strikeouts.
Wheeler didn't allow a hit until Ronald Acuna Jr.'s leadoff
single in the fourth inning and was in a groove until the sixth
inning. After retiring the first two batters, the momentum
changed when he hit Acuna with a pitch on the arm. Wheeler had
to wait several minutes while trainers attended to Acuna, who
was able to remain in the game.
"That may have sparked something in the crowd, in the dugout,"
Atlanta's Austin Riley said. "That fight and knowing anything
can happen at any time."
Wheeler wasn't the same when the game resumed. After Dansby
Swanson walked, Olson lined a single to right that glanced off
the glove of first baseman Rhys Hoskins and allowed Acuna to
score.
Swanson scored on Riley's infield hit, a perfectly placed soft
roller up the third base line, and d'Arnaud singled to center to
plate Olson and complete the three-run rally.
"I thought Wheels was outstanding," Philadelphia manager Rob
Thomson said. "He had everything going. I don't whether the hit
batsman threw him off a little bit, but he walks Swanson and
then there's a play we should make, and then an infield hit and
another hit up the middle. So just kind of unraveled."
The Atlanta defense turned in two stellar plays. Swanson, the
shortstop, made a running, over-the-shoulder catch to end the
sixth inning. Riley, the third baseman, ran down a foul ball in
the eighth inning and caught it after crashing into the tarp and
falling down.
"Dansby's catch was unbelievable and Austin's, too, on the
tarp," Snitker said. "They could be showing both of those for
the next year. They were unbelievable plays."
--Field Level Media
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