Coaches Dave and Ross have drilled and hammered the Braves on their defensive responsibilities in practice during the last week-plus. The Braves proved they've been paying attention in a 16-1 victory over the Cubs Monday evening at Water Tower Park.
While the Braves hit well on this windy and rain-interrupted evening, they weren't hammering the ball out of the park. Instead, they took advantage of every Cub mistake, while playing stout defense they deprived the Cubs of any chance to make it a game.
Liam led the parade with stellar fielding in right field and left field. He caught a deep fly ball in right field with no outs and a runner on first base, likely preventing a run. He also cleanly picked up two other singles hit to the outfield, and made strong, accurate throws to the cutoff men. Coach Dave was beaming about Liam's outfield play.
Jason started the game on the mound, and helped his own cause by spearing a liner and grabbing a grounder.
Then the Braves batted around in the first inning. Jason doubled. Chris brought him home with a single to right field. Jack walked, and Alec singled Chris home. Matt walked, Jack stole home on a passed ball. Evan singled, driving in Alec and Matt. Nick singled. Evan scored on a passed ball. Tyler walked, Anthony singled, scoring Nick. Connor singled, bringing Tyler home. Jason came to bat for the second time in the inning, and ripped a hard liner that was snared by the Cubs shortstop. The inning ended with the Braves up 8-0.
More highlights:
Batting: Each Brave reached base at least once, and 10 different Braves scored at least one run.
As Coach Dave pointed out after the game, three Braves took one for the team, getting hit by pitches: Scott, Alec and Tyler, all in the second inning.
Two Braves hit the ball hard, took off running, and never stopped until they cross home plate. In the third inning, with Jason on base, Scott ripped a ball into center field that bounced hard and got past the Cubs centerfielder. Scott made it all the way home. Coach Rick scored it a triple and error by the Cubs, but the boys treated it as a homer and rushed out to greet Scott.
Then, in the fourth inning, Nick smashed a ball down the right field line and zoomed around the bases before sliding safely across home plate. Coach Dave called it a legit inside-the-park home run, as the Cubs made no errors on the play, and joked that he had never seen Nick run so fast. What I noticed was how flawlessly Nick turned at each base.
Connor was 3 for 3 with 3 singles. Jason, Chris, Alec, Nick & Anthony each had 2 hits. Matt walked 3 times. With a single and a walk, Evan drove in 3 runs.
Pitching: Scott made his Braves pitching debut in the 4th inning. Aided by their stingy defense, Jason, Matt, Chris and Evan turned in scoreless innings. Evan finished off the final out with a running snow-cone grab of a soft liner.
Defense: At shortstop, Chris snagged a hard liner by Cubs' slugger Zach Casey. In the 4th inning, with runners on 1st and 2nd and no outs, shortstop Jason scooped out a hard grounder and threw alertly to Matt at 3rd to get the lead runner. (I love watching Jason in the field -- he always has his head in the game.) In addition to his other fine plays, Liam almost threw out the lead runner going to second on a single to right field.
Debuts: In addition to Scott's pitching debut, Jason made his Braves' debut as a catcher in the 6th inning.
Next game: 6:30 p.m. Thursday July 2, vs. the Orioles. Have your Brave at Water Tower by 5:45 p.m. for warmups and practice.
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