The Braves had a chance to win the series on Saturday, and the game played out exactly like a matchup of back-end starters should: traffic on the bases, a few messy moments, and not much margin for error.
Bryce Elder gave Atlanta a strange but workable outing. He allowed the Orioles to get on the board in the third after Jim Jarvis made an error and then failed to make another play on a hard line drive, opening the door for a run.
Baltimore added another in the fifth on Gunnar Henderson’s homer, which came on the first fly ball Elder allowed all day. Even with the damage, Elder battled through 5.0 innings, striking out 8 and walking 4, and the Braves will live with the fact that he gave up just 1 earned run.
Atlanta’s first run came with a big assist from Matt Olson, who correctly challenged a strike 3 call and turned it into ball 4. Olson later scored on a Michael Harris double, and that challenge ended up being a major turning point for the Braves’ offense.
Victor Mederos then took over in the sixth and nearly worked through 2.0 clean innings before another Jim Jarvis miscue extended the inning. Pete Alonso lifted a pop-up to shortstop, but Jarvis dropped it, leaving runners on the corners with two outs and Gunnar Henderson due up.
Mederos got Henderson to strike out, then left the game fired up after 2.0 scoreless innings with 3 strikeouts. His night only grew bigger when lefty Ozzie launched a homer over the right field wall to lead off the eighth and tie the game at 2.
Didier Fuentes handled the eighth with no trouble, striking out two and getting a soft lineout. Atlanta’s lineup then went quiet against the back end of Baltimore’s bullpen, and Fuentes came back out for the ninth hoping to push the game to extras.
Instead, Jackson Holliday doubled with one out to create pressure, moved to third on a deep flyout for the second out, and then Beavers delivered a soft single from the leadoff spot to end it. The Orioles walked off with a 3-2 win.
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