– by Adesina O. Koiki
A Lot of Sports Talk editor-in-chief
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BALTIMORE — Both teams during this weekend’s series could make the legitimate case that they easily could have come away with an impressive three-game sweep, even if both were a play or two away during the weekend from being demoralizingly swept also. Yet one of the teams had to come away with a series win, regardless, and it was Atlanta that did just enough — and got enough help from its opponent along the way — to come way feeling more satisfied after a rubber-game triumph.
Atlanta’s defense let it down in the ninth inning yet got out of a sticky situation in the extra innings that led to its eventual 3-2 win over the Baltimore Orioles in 11 innings inside Oriole Park at Camden Yards on Sunday afternoon. Austin Riley hit an RBI double to lead off the final frame, which immediately proceeded teammate Matt Olson turning an unassisted double play in the bottom of the 10th when the Orioles had the bases loaded and no outs and were a whisker away from winning.
Playing the series without Ronald Acuña Jr., who remained sidelined with a hamstring injury, Atlanta took two out of three in the series with both wins coming in extra innings, and now sit 5 1/2 games ahead of the Philadelphia Phillies for first place in the National League East.
“After a rough June, grinding through that and coming out the other end and still being in first place, it’s going to serve us well in the long run,” Braves manager Walt Weiss said. “You make deposits into the bank of mental toughness when you do things like that. And winning games like this is the same type of deal. It hardens you. And that’s what postseason baseball looks like.”
*Editor’s note: Above the byline is the photo gallery from Sunday afternoon’s game, with photos taken by staff photographer Timothy Rice. After clicking on a photo to enlarge the picture, press the left and right arrow buttons on either side of the caption to scroll through the rest of the pictures that appear on the first page. Also, click on the numbers and/or arrow appearing immediately below the picture grid to load the next set of photos. There are 29 pictures in total.
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