Hours after unveiling a new Braves T-shirt bearing his likeness and showcasing his Stone Mountain roots and proud ATLien status, veteran Brandon Phillips had a home run and two RBIs to help his squad and pitcher Mike Foltynewicz take a lead on the way to continuing their recent surge in a series-opening win against the Brewers.
But it was a pair of rookie infielders, shortstop Dansby Swanson and third baseman John Camargo, who made the spectacular game-saving plays in the final two innings of the Braves' 5-4 win against the National League Central-leading Brewers in a series opener Friday night at SunTrust Park.
Camargo stabbed a 101-mph grounder to start an inning-ending double play in the eighth inning that prevented at least one run, and Swanson made the play of the game in the ninth when he fielded Domingo Santana’s grounder near second base and opted not for the force at first but spun and threw to third base, where Camargo tagged Eric Thames sliding head-first for the first out of the inning.
“To have the guts to make that play is the biggest thing to me,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “The conviction. There wasn’t any hesitation. He saw him — not a great runner — and tried to make a play. It’s almost like if he’s safe right there, I can’t fault him for trying to make a play. He’s trying to win the game right there, is what he’s doing. And he did.”
Thames had doubled to start the ining off Arodys Vizcaino, filling in for closer Jim Johnson after Snitker decided to rest the veteran following a long, post-midnight final inning Thursday.
After making the play to get Thames at third base for the first out of the ninth, Swanson dove to catch Manny Pina’s soft line drive for the final out, securing the Braves’ eighth win in 11 games including six of eight on the homestand.
“Honestly it’s just big for the team,” Swanson said when asked how it felt to make the game-saving play to throw out Thames for the first out in the ninth. “Being able to pick up guys and them picking me up. That was just an example of picking up Viz tonight but, then again, the pitchers have picked us up when we haven’t hit. That’s just how baseball works. I think that’s what’s fun and exciting about this game and also about this team.”
The Braves improved to 13-9 in June and lifted their home record back to .500 (19-19) for the first time since May 1.
Phillips had a first-inning home run and an RBI double in the fifth, and five of his six home runs this season have come at SunTrust Park.
Foltynewicz (5-5) had a lot of long at-bats and threw 104 pitches in five innings, but limited the Brewers to four hits and one run with three walks and nine strikeouts. He pitched most of his last two innings in a steady rain and gave up his only run on a Keon Broxton homer in the fourth, reducing the Braves’ lead to 2-1.
The Braves had Foltynewicz’s back, answering with two more runs in the fifth inning on three hits including an Ender Inciarte leadoff single, Phillips’ double to the right-center gap and Tyler Flowers’ run-scoring single through the right side of the infield to push the lead to 4-1.
Inciarte is second in the major leagues with 96 hits this season and leads the majors with 196 hits since the 2016 All-Star break.
For the second night in a row, the Braves had a homer and two runs on the board before the opposing pitcher recorded his second out. Nick Markakis hit a two-run homer in the first inning of Thursday’s series-finale win against the Giants, and Phillips hit a one-out homer Friday off Brewers right-hander Jimmy Nelson, who was 3-0 with a 2.02 ERA and only one homer allowed in his previous five starts.
Markakis followed Phillips’ homer with a walk and Matt Adams singled before Flowers hit a would-be double-play grounder that the Brewers botched. Shortstop Orlando Arcia dropped the throw from second baseman Eric Sogard on the transfer to his throwing hand before Arcia had stepped on the base. Instead of a double play, the Brewers got no outs on the play and Markakis scored for a 2-0 lead.
Nelson pitched five innings and allowed six hits, four runs and three walks with eight strikeouts, his briefest start since May 23.
When the Brewers got a run in the seventh against reliever Sam Freeman, the Braves answered with an RBI single from Swanson in the bottom of the inning.
Braves reliever Jose Ramirez had another shaky outing, giving up two runs in the eighth innning on an Orlando Arcia double after walking two of the first three batters he faced in the inning. Ramirez also hit .115-hitting Lewis Brinson with a pitch and would’ve given up at least the tying run if not for Camargo’s splendid stop on the inning-ending double play.
“It was a hard-hit ball,” Camargo said through an interpreter. “He squared it up pretty good. I was just trying to stay focused on the game the whole time. I feel very fortunate and blessed that I was able to make the play. Glad that I was able to have good vision during it.”
It was the second time in his past three appearances that Ramirez allowed two runs and the third time he’s been scored upon in his past five. Ramirez has issued at least one walk in six consecutive appearances and walking just two batters in his first eight appearances.
