 Yesterday's home opener for the Braves was absolutely wild (this is not an April Fool's joke). It looked like the Pirates would cruise to a victory with a five run lead in the ninth inning, but the Braves didn't give up that easily. Tom Glavine began the game for the Braves, and left after the fifth inning, having surrendered one earned run; Glavine turned over a 4-2 lead to the bullpen. The Braves bullpen was downright terrible, however, giving up ten runs in seven innings after Glavine's departure. But back to the insanity for a moment. The Pirates took a five run lead into the bottom of the ninth inning, and that's where things started to become interesting. Pirates' Damaso Marte walked two batters, then closer Matt Capps walked two more batters to bring home a run. Chipper Jones followed with a two-run single, making it 9-7. Then it looked as though Pittsburgh would escape with a Mark Teixeira pop-up followed by McCann's soft fly to left, where something crazy happened. After the bases loaded walk by Matt Capps to bring in one run, the following is the most amazing play-by-play commentary from one of the broadcasters on Peachtree TV: '9 to 5, and now the tying run comes to the plate. Four walks in this 9th inning. And a three RBI night, and a perfect night at the plate for Escobar...Line drive, base hit, one run scores, here comes Prado around third. He will score. Escobar to third. Two run game... Two and 0 pitch. Fly ball, shallow left, that should be caught. On comes [Jason] Bay. Dead sprint. IT DROPS!!!!!!!!!!!! One run scores!! Chipper around third. He will SCORE!!! What in the world happened in the outfield? LOST IT! Flat-out lost it. He was playing so deep, that ball dropped twenty feet from Jason Bay from where he thought it would come down... UN-BELIEVABLE!!' It's hard to describe the emotion behind this call, especially when the ball drops and two runs score in the bottom of the ninth inning to tie the game at 9-9. I would link to the video on MLB.com, but I don't know how to do it. Just go to Braves.com and look through the video archive to find a video of the 9th inning rally by the Braves. But the Braves' hope for a miraculous comeback was ultimately dashed after the game went to extra innings. In the 12th inning, Pirates' Xavier Nady drilled a three-run homer off Blaine Boyer. The Braves had a mini-rally going again in the bottom of the 12th inning, but fell just short. After Jeff Francoeur's two-out homer and Matt Diaz's RBI single, the evening came to a close when Pirates reliever Franquelis Osoria got Braves' Corky Miller to hit a lazy fly to center field. Final score was Pittsburgh Pirates 12, Braves 11. The following were player reactions after the game: “That,” said Braves catcher Brian McCann, “was probably the craziest game I’ve ever been a part of.” 'Tonight was one of those nights where you had to expect the unexpected,' said Tom Glavine. It was certainly a wild opening night at Turner Field. Unforgettable. |
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