When Lane Adams strode to the plate to pinch-hit for the Braves with bases loaded and two out in the sixth inning Saturday and the Diamondbacks ahead 3-2, plenty watching at SunTrust Park or at home on TV must have wondered whether the wrong Adams heard his name called.
But in about the time it took to say, why isn’t left-handed power hitter Matt Adams hitting here against Randall Delgado?, right-handed Lane Adams lined a first-pitch double to left field, clearing the bases and giving the Braves a lead they wouldn’t relinquish in an 8-5 win before 41,627 at SunTrust Park, the largest crowd to date at the first-year stadium.
"Anytime you can help a team, you have a big moment in a game with a team that's pushing for a playoff spot, it's pretty surreal," said Adams, a 27-year-old rookie whose only major league experience before this season was three at-bats with Kansas City in 2014.
Brandon Phillips had three hits and drove in two runs with a home run and a double and Jace Peterson added a pinch-hit homer in the eighth inning for the Braves, who’ve won the first two games coming out of the All-Star break and go for a sweep Sunday against an Arizona team that has the fourth-best record in the majors.
“We got some big hits off the bench tonight that made a huge difference in this game,” said manager Brian Snitker, whose Braves are 6-2-1 in their past nine series and have a 22-16 record since the beginning of June, moving back within one game of .500 at 44-45.
“We’re playing a really good team here. They’re fighting for a lot just like we are. Guys have responded well. I thought we had a good series in Washington (four-game split before the All-Star break), then they got a little time off and came out gunning. That’s good.”
The Braves had three doubles to give them 34 during a streak in which they’ve had at least two doubles in 11 consecutive games, their second-longest such run since the team moved to Atlanta in 1966.
They’ve also won seven consecutive games started by Mike Foltynewicz, who gave up eight hits and three runs in 5 1/3 innings and got no decision. He had six strikeouts and three walks and had a high pitch count (110) due to two- and three-ball counts against a majority of hitters.
Adams, a 27-year-old rookie whose first home run came as a pinch-hitter June 22 against San Francisco, is now 6-for-25 (.240) with eight RBIs as a pinch-hitter, tied with Danny Santana for the team lead in pinch-hit RBIs.
After Patrick Corbin limited the Braves to six hits and two runs in five innings, right-hander Delgado, who began his career with the Braves, gave up consecutive infield singles to Ender Inciarte and Matt Kemp to start the sixth inning. Nick Markakis struck out and Johan Camargo flied out before Dansby Swanson kept the inning alive by working a seven-pitch walk to load the bases.
Delgado has reverse splits, as lefties hit just .216 in 102 at-bats against him before Saturday and right-handers hit .265 in 132 at-bats. Snitker said he was cognizant of that plus the fact that he knew Arizona would likely bring in a lefty reliever to face Matt Adams, and he liked the matchup of Lane vs. Delgado better than Matt vs. a lefty.
And so, Lane Adams, a journeyman with excellent speed, went to the batter’s box and pounced on a first-pitch slider, driving it to the left-field corner to bring in all three runs and give the Braves a 5-3 lead.
“I talked to Seitz (hitting coach Kevin Seitzer) and (assistant hitting coach Jose) Castro about how to approach pinch-hitting,” Adams said. “They said be aggressive, but just kind of hunt your pitch. It’s all kind of new to me…. Just be aggressive early because you don’t want to fall behind in the count against bullpen arms in today’s game because they all throw pretty hard. So you have to be ready to go as soon as you step into the box.”
When Ender Inciarte followed with a grounder that was botched by the second baseman (but ruled a hit), Adams sprinted and was sent home by third-base coach Ron Washington, scoring from second. The Braves added a run in the seventh on Kurt Suzuki’s two-out single to push the lead to 7-3, and those runs turned out to be important when Braves lefty Sam Freeman faltered in the seventh inning, facing three batters and allowing two walks and a single.
Rex Brothers entered with bases loaded and gave up a pair of ground-outs that drove in a run apiece, the second of those scoring when Brothers fielded a comebacker and inexplicably threw to first base instead of tossing to the plate to get the runner who was headed to the plate right in front of him.
Peterson led off the Braves’ eighth with his first homer of the season, a towering shot to the roof facade of the Chop House beyond right field, to get the lead back to 8-5. It was Atlanta’s third pinch-hit home run this season.
Foltynewicz hasn’t lost since May 27 when he allowed seven hits, five runs and two homers in four innings of a 6-3 defeat at San Francisco. In eight starts since he has 3.21 ERA ERA, with eight of his 17 runs allowed in that stretch coming in 3 1/3 innings of a June 12 game at Washington that the Braves won, 11-10.
“Our defense played great tonight,” Foltynewicz said. “They saved about three or four runs for me and stopped the bleeding. Overall, a great team win…. We’re rolling pretty good and we’re just trying to get to the top of that mountain and start rolling down. I think we’re right there. A couple more wins and we’re just going to keep rolling. But it’s awesome to see the team win when I’m out there. That’s the main goal every time.”
Foltynewicz gave up two or fewer runs in six of his past seven starts including four in a row before being charged with three runs Saturday, the third scoring after reliever Luke Jackson replaced Foltynewicz with one out and a runner at second in the sixth. Jackson walked the first batter he faced A.J. Pollock, and one out later gave up an RBI single to Paul Goldschmidt that put the Diamondbacks ahead, 3-2.
