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Defense, a strong bullpen and a clutch kick helped the San Francisco Giants beat the Atlanta Braves tonight.
Alex Wood made his first start since being on the COVID-19 Injury List, and was therefore subject to a throwing restriction. And he made the most of it, playing three innings, allowing no hits, runs or walks, and taking four out in three innings of work. Wood came out in the first inning and only needed ten shots to get out of it, he only needed 37 to complete his three innings of work.
It was a goalless affair for most of the game, despite plenty of opportunities for both teams. The Braves threatened early in the fourth against Zack Littell, where it looked like Jorge Soler had hit a home run, but he was actually deemed double due to a leaping catch attempt from Steven Duggar. The ball went into his glove, then came back into play. This was followed by a single to Freddie Freeman to put the runners into the corners without an out.
Austin Riley hit with a point foul that went into Casali’s glove. Riley insisted the ball had hit him, but upon examination it was clear that she had hit him, but after hitting the bat. After all that, with runners on the corners all the time, Littell finally managed to pull out three holds in a row to end the round.
It was the Giants who did the damage in the fourth inning. LaMonte Wade, Jr. started things off with a walk ahead, followed by a Brandon Crawford single who snuck past an Ozzie Albies dive and into shallow right field.
This brought in Mike Yastrzemski, who did a bunt to get the runners to move forward, but was sent off just before he could reach it (ruled a sacrifice bunt). Curt Casali found runners in second and third and one and hit a single line to right field, allowing Wade and Crawford to score the only points of the game.
They had a real opportunity in the fifth, however, as Braves starting pitcher Charlie Morton began to lose command. Tommy La Stella was hit with a pitch to start the inning, followed by marches to Kris Bryant and Crawford to charge Mike Yastrzemski’s bases with two outs. A wild shot could have given La Stella a goal, but he remained third, due to how quickly Braves wide receiver Travis d’Arnaud played him. Crawford, however, started to really look for second place, but came back before d’Arnaud noticed how far he had gone. Regardless, because Yastrzemski pulled out some holds to end the round.
The bullpen was solid tonight, supported by a stellar defense. Jay Jackson threw the top of the sixth and gave Jorge Soler the advantage on goal. Brandon Belt had his back, however, as Freddie Freeman fielded one directly on Belt, who held Soler on the sack, and was able to make a double play without assistance.
Jose Alvarez had another Brandon to thank, as he entered the lead in the seventh. With two strikeouts, Eddie Rosario scored from a line in right field. In the next batting game, gripper Orlando Arcia crashed into a forced out, where Crawford made a great play at La Stella to end the inning.
Tyler Rogers pitched a clean eighth inning, followed by starter Dominic Leone and closer to Mr. Do-It-All, who came in to pitch the ninth. With one out, Leone gave Adam Duvall a single, after which the defense saved the day once again, as d’Arnaud managed a 5-4-3 double play to end the game and give Leone the stop.
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