Saturday's Braves Report: No O in Philly; playoff scenarios (again)
Sanchez sharp, but Nola a little sharper
Aaron Nola threw seven shutout innings and Philadelphia ended a nine-game losing streak with a 3-0 win over Atlanta.
Nola will finish the season 17-6 after giving up two hits, with eight strikeouts and four walks.
Cesar Hernandez’ two-run single in the seventh was all the Phillies needed, Atlanta mounting hardly any threat all night long.
Anibal Sanchez had an equally good night, with three hits, three walks and seven strikeouts in six scoreless innings.
Nick Markakis played in his 2,000th game.
Now we get to really get on Snit, huh?
From beat writers Gabe Burns/Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Mark Bowman/MLB.com, and David O’Brien/The Athletic on Twitter (and others when notable)
The home/road stuff is overblown. Finished 5 games above .500 at home despite losing 14 of last 23 at STP. They were 34-24 in ATL before being swept by COL. So for 70% of the season, they played .586 ball at home. The final 30% was blemished by blown late leads vs. COL and BOS/MB
The Phillies corner outfielders took the field in the wrong positions. So that's how this one starts./GB
Venters had a .148 opp. BA and .411 opp. OPS in 13 September appearances before tonight./DOB
Touki further strengthened his postseason resume by striking out the side in the 8th -- Bautista, Kinger, Knapp/DOB
Suzuki reaches on a 2-out throwing error by Santana in 9th to put 2 in scor position, but Albies grounds out to end game, #Braves lose 3-0 as #Phillies snap 9-game losing skid. Makes it harder for ATL to win home-field advantage. One bad pen inning after Sanchez's strong start./DOB
Venters: "I didn’t do my job. Anibal threw the ball really well; come in you’ve got to hold the game where it is & I didn’t do it. Leadoff walk hurt & the guy put down a good bunt. I got a couple of ground balls, but I just didn’t get it done. Cost the team the game.”/DOB
If you've been at Dodger Stadium or Coors Field for a playoff game, you'd know you don't want to start a postseason series with two games at one of those places./DOB