Adam Duvall continues to love life at Truist Park as the Braves overthrow the Reds

Drew Smyly pitched six solid innings while allowing just two runs against the Reds. His solid outing, a two-run homerun from Adam Duvall and a goal-packed walk from Stephen Vogt were enough for Atlanta to beat Cincinnati, 3-2.

It didn’t take long for there to be an interesting flash point in this one, as the Reds suddenly found themselves two points ahead in the second inning. This was after Drew Smyly thought he’d pulled Joey Votto out on holds for the first outing of the round. The pitch was barely outside, and Votto started slapping the next pitch he saw from Smyly in right field for a brace, then Aristides Aquino crushed one in the seats in left center field for a two-point shot. What could have been a comfortable situation for Smyly in this setting ended up being a big bump in the road for him.

Fortunately, the Braves didn’t waste much time collecting those points. After spending the first three innings off the scoreboard and being regularly pulled out by Sonny Gray, they finally cracked his code in the fourth inning. It was even more encouraging that the Braves pulled off the rally with two strikeouts, as Dansby Swanson extended the inning with a walk. This brought Adam Duvall to the plate, and it’s pretty obvious now that this man really enjoys hitting baseballs in Truist Park. Duvall slammed one over the fence in left field to tie the game at two points apiece.

By the time the sixth inning rolled out, the Braves had knocked Sonny Gray out of the game and it was their relief pen’s turn to take over for Cincinnati. Things started badly for Heath Hembree, who saw Austin Riley single on the first pitch Hembree threw on his exit. Dansby Swanson walked after that AB and after Duvall pulled out, Hembree passed the baton to Amir Garrett. Unfortunately for Cincinnati, he picked up where Hembree left off. Garrett accompanied Joc Pederson to load the goals, then Stephen Vogt showed great patience to coax Garrett after losing 0-2 on the count. The basics-laden march put the Braves in the lead, but they couldn’t add any goals afterwards.

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Jorge Soler scored a brace in the seventh inning and made it all the way to third, but was stranded there. Both teams stayed off the scoreboard, so the score was 3-2 going into the ninth inning. Will Smith was called in for the rescue, it was his first outing since making a save against the Nationals this weekend. This time it still wasn’t easy for Smith as Kyle Farmer pulled off a brace with one out and then Eugenio Suarez (with a 9.0% walk rate in 2021 before this game) took a walk to serve as potential green light. .

Lucky for us Braves fans, the baseball gods smiled on Will Smith. Mike Moustakas ended up in a 0-2 hole and ended up crushing one at Freddie Freeman, who threw it at Dansby at second base, then Dansby sent him back to Freddie early to end the game. on the field.

Will Smith needed something to go right after that tough outing he had back on Saturday and he got it with that late-game double play. It was also an impressive night for Drew Smyly, who did a good job limiting damage over six solid innings against a very dangerous Reds lineup. The Braves are playing some good baseball right now and they just started a streak against a pretty good team with a narrow victory. If Atlanta continues to win and things continue to work in favor of the Braves elsewhere in the division, then things will finally start to look really good and familiar for our Braves after spending months wrestling.