The bullpen script didn’t go as the Braves drew it up Saturday night, but they had no complaints about the alternative version that played out at SunTrust Park.
Newly acquired closer Shane Greene didn’t hold a 4-3 lead in a luckless ninth inning, surrendering the tying run in his Braves debut, before recently deposed closer Luke Jackson struck out the side in the 10th to keep the game 4-4.
Then the Braves defeated the Cincinnati Reds, 5-4, in the bottom of the 10th on a walk-off two-out single inside the third-base line by Ronald Acuna.
Jackson was credited with the win and Greene was charged with a blown save, and yes, baseball defies scripts.
The Braves extended their lead in the National League East to seven games.
Greene, acquired Wednesday from the Detroit Tigers, pitched better in his Braves debut than his statistics – one run, three hits in one inning – reflect.
“He made his pitches – a couple of seeing-eye singles and a bloop,” catcher Brian McCann said. “He minimized the damage and allowed us to get the win.”
When the game went to the 10th, the Braves summoned Jackson, who lost the closer’s role amid this week’s flurry of trades for bullpen reinforcements. Newly acquired Mark Melancon had already pitched a scoreless eighth inning, and newly acquired Chris Martin had pitched a perfect inning the night before.
Jackson came through, throwing perhaps as well as he has all season.
“I told him, ‘That’s how you respond to a situation like that,’” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “We’re going to need him. It just deepens our bullpen and shows that we have some weapons down there.”
“It’s kind of a luxury to have such great guys down in the bullpen,” starting pitcher Dallas Keuchel said. “I know as starters we thoroughly enjoy that.
“He’s got plenty of time to be a closer in his career,” Keuchel said of Jackson, “and we’re all in this together. We want to win a championship, and I think we’re going to do whatever it takes to get there.”
After Jackson’s scoreless frame, the first two Braves batters in the bottom of the 10th walked. With runners at second and third with two out, Acuna delivered his first career walk-off hit on an 0-2 slider.
“It feels great to be able to do that and have the win,” Acuna said through a translator. “See the ball and hit the ball.”
It was the Braves’ seventh walk-off win of the season and the 18th time they have won in their final at-bat of a game. It also boosted the Braves’ record in extra-inning games to 10-3.
“It seems like everybody loves the moment -- that moment to win it,” McCann said. “Guys just continue to come through in the big moments.”
Two innings before his walk-off hit, Acuna drew a bases-loaded walk in the eighth to give the Braves a brief 4-3 lead – the fourth walk issued by Reds relievers in that inning.
Through six innings, it appeared the Braves would win the game without much tension. At that point, Keuchel had allowed just one hit -- a second-inning single by rookie Aristides Aquino, his first major-league hit, coming in his seventh at-bat. Keuchel seemed in comfortable command with a 3-0 lead that the Braves had built against opposing starter Trevor Bauer, who was making his Reds debut after being traded by the Cleveland Indians.
But in the top of the seventh, the game’s course changed. Aquino struck again – this time a three-run 404-foot homer to left-center off Keuchel to abruptly tie the game.
“It doesn’t matter if it’s third day in the big leagues (as it was for Aquino) or a 10-year vet,” Keuchel said. “Guys are strong in this league. Guys are able to lift the ball now.
“It’s just one of those pitches I’d like to get back, but that’s the only one I’d really take back.”
The Braves and Reds conclude the series, which Atlanta leads two games to one, Sunday afternoon. The pitching matchup is the Braves’ Julio Teheran (6-7, 3.38) vs. the Reds’ Sonny Gray (6-6, 3.45).
The Braves will depart later Sunday for a seven-game trip that starts with three games at Minnesota and ends with four at Miami.
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