Dansby Swanson matched a career high with three hits Friday, and for a moment it looked like the third might give the Braves consecutive comeback wins against the Phillies to start the season at SunTrust Park.
Swanson’s two-out double the eighth inning, his third hit of the night, initially appeared to provide a 5-4 lead. But the play was challenged and overturned after replays showed pinch-runner Peter Bourjos’ left foot was inches above the plate as he slid past and the tag was applied before his back foot scraped the plate.
“It’s just a freak thing,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “(Bourjos) is just giving it everything he’s got but it was pretty visible that his foot wasn’t on top (of the base).”
Instead of a go-ahead run it was the third out of the inning, and the Phillies won 5-4 in 11 innings on a pair of 11th-inning singles and Carlos Santana’s sacrifice fly off reliever Shane Carle, the seventh Braves pitcher in the game.
“It’s just baseball, right?” Swanson said. “It’s almost like every sport is a game of inches. It’s a shame it didn’t go our way, but I think the consistency of what we’ve been able to do as far as just continuing to battle and play the game all the way to the end is impressive.
“It’s definitely in the makeup of this team. It’s just one of those we’ve got to flush now and come back and win a series tomorrow.”
On opening day Thursday, the Braves came back from a 5-0 deficit to win 8-5 on Nick Markakis’ two-out, three-run game-ending homer.
They fell behind 2-0 Friday before scoring two runs in the third inning when Swanson got things started with a leadoff single and Ryan Flaherty followed with an RBI double.
Swanson went 3-for-4, his sixth career three-hit game and first since Sept. 2, 2017, against the Cubs at Wrigley Field.
“Really good, that was good to see,” Snitker said of Swanson’s three-hit night in the second game of the season.
It’s an encouraging start for the shortstop, whom the Braves are hoping will have a bounce-back year after struggling as a rookie in 2017 and briefly getting sent down to Triple-A in July.
“I think the biggest thing is just consistently put the bat on the ball and hope good things happen,” Swanson said. “That’s today. Tomorrow we’ll come back here and try and get the same result, but hopefully with a win this next time.”
