His mother flew in from Panama on her birthday, came to Atlanta just to be with her son Johan Camargo and share the day with him. And Camargo wanted to do something special for her, something unique.
He did that in the ninth inning Tuesday night, hitting the first walk-off home run of his career to lift the Braves to an inspired 7-6 comeback win over the Mets at SunTrust Park.
“I wanted to get a hit and give her a nice birthday surprise,” Camargo said through a translator. “Obviously it crossed my mind -- this would be great; what if I could give this for her? Fortunately we were able to do that.”
Camargo got a Powerade shower from teammates as he was being interview on the field by Braves TV after the game, but the joy on his face rose to another level when he saw his mother come onto the field. The two embraced, smiling and laughing.
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There is something about this Braves team, an unusual degree of confidence and optimism, the belief that they can prevail even in the face of big, early-game deficit like they faced Tuesday night, when they trailed 4-0 before the bottom of the fourth inning and were still down 6-2 after six innings.
But they do their most impressive work late, and did again Tuesday. Nick Markakis’ two-out RBI double in the seventh inning, Ender Inciarete’s two-run triple in a three-run eighth inning, and rally-capping biggest blow of all, Camargo’s line-drive, first-pitch homer off hard-throwing reliever Gerson Bautista in the ninth inning, a missile of a hit that looked like it might’ve broke a brick on the right-field wall if it hadn’t cleared it, which it did by a couple of feet.
“I was looking forward to that opportunity,” Camargo said. “Not to say you can predict this happening or anything like that, but I was just really optimistic and kept my head up the entire time and I was talking to (Ronald) Acuna a lot and we were just kind of both motivating each other and being optimistic.
“I kept repeating to him, I’m gonna get a good hit on this, I’m gonna get a good hit on this. So we kept talking about that back and forth as my turn was coming up. It was just positive thinking.”
That thinking continues to get stoked by success in these situations. It was the Braves’ eighth win in their final at-bat this season including five walk-off wins.
And the four runs they scored in the eighth and ninth innings raised their total to 100 runs after the seventh inning, the most in the National League and trailing only Houston (107) in the majors.
Braves manager Brian Snitker was asked if he had an explanation for that proficiency.
“I don’t know, because that’s usually some of your better pitchers, in that seventh inning on,” he said. “I think it’s just the approach, these guys grind at-bats, the approach is good, and … I don’t know. It’s just a great trait to have for a ballclub.”
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His teammates watched the low-flying trajectory of Camargo’s hit and came pouring onto the field to celebrate with Camargo as soon as it landed in the seats.
“I think the team stays optimistic and keeps their heads up,” Camargo said of the prevailing attitude that stokes the Braves’ hopes when the odds seem slim at best. “Despite having a long day yesterday and everything that happened, we’re always looking to battle, and I think that’s what happens in this dugout.”
After they won Monday's doubleheader opener on Charlie Culberson's walk-off homer, the Braves lost the nightcap in a game that didn't start until after 10 p.m. and didn't end until almost 1:30 a.m.
Following such a ridiculously long day at the ballpark, any team could’ve been excused for lacking energy or focus after falling behind 3-0 through three innings Tuesday against formidable Mets lefty Steven Matz. But Matz left the game with a sore finger on his pitching hand during his fourth-inning warm-ups, and the Braves soon went to work against the Mets bullpen.
Snitker insisted he wasn’t surprised.
“I always feel like, if you keep the thing close – I’ve just been watching it too much, these guys never stop,” he said. “They never quit grinding out at-bat and doing really good things.”
Veteran catcher Tyler Flowers said, “Yeah, whatever the score was at one point – 6-1? (it was 6-2) -- it really wasn’t a big deal. It was just about trying to execute our plan against whoever was pitching that inning against us, putting a bunch of good at-bats together, which we did a few times. Then Ender finally got the big hit for us that finally got us back in it. And (Dan) Winkler coming in (and getting out of a jam in the ninth), continuing to do what he’s done all year. Gave us a chance in the bottom (of the ninth) to win it.”
The Braves have won three of their last four home games on walk-off hits. Since Snitker took over as manager in May 2016, his Braves lead the majors with 45 wins in the team’s final inning at-bat.
On a night when the crowd was quiet after the Braves’ rough start against Matz and four runs allowed in four innings by Atlanta starter Anibal Sanchez, in the dugout the team continued to believe, to talk amongst themselves about how they would get back in it as they had before.
“Just a quiet calm,” Snitker said of the dugout atmosphere at times such as Tuesday night’s early innings. “I don’t see anybody panicking. There’s nobody in there ranting and raving. They’re in there cheering each other on. They’re in there pulling for each other and kind of a calm confidence, I guess you could call it. Because they’ve experienced it. They know we’re never out of a game and we’re going to keep coming. I think the guys sense that.”
