Kyle Taylor, Valdosta Today Sports
ATLANTA – There was plenty of excitement at Turner Field on Thursday night for many different reasons.
The Braves, who are winners of two of their last three after losing five straight, took on the division leading Washington Nationals to wrap up the three game series.
The odds were heavily stacked in Washington’s favor with Max Scherzer (9-5), who will likely start the All-Star Game next weekend, going against a team without Freddie Freeman, and another Braves rookie starter on the mound.
That starter was Atlanta’s number eleven prospect, according to MLB.com, Manny Banuelos.
Banuelos is a 24-year-old, left-handed pitcher that has been rebounding from Tommy John surgery. The rookie pitcher was acquired from the Yankees in the off season and received high praise at one point from future hall of famer, Mariano Rivera. Banuelos is the eighth pitcher for the Braves this season to make his MLB debut.
The game could not have ended in a better way heading into a July 4th weekend series with the last place Philadelphia Phillies.
The game was tied 1-1 in the ninth after great pitching from both Scherzer and Banuelos. Pedro Ciriaco pinched hit and used his speed to deliver a single to start the inning off with Scherzer still on the mound.
Jace Peterson executed a sacrifice bunt to move Ciriaco to second and Cameron Maybin followed with a ground ball that bounced over their third baseman, Yunel Escobar, for a walk-off, 2-1 win for the Braves.
There was some controversy as to whether the ball was fair because it clearly landed in foul territory, but third base umpire, CB Bucknor, ruled that it was over the bag before it landed. By rule, the play could not be challenged.
Maybin told ESPN, “You just try to stay relaxed right there and battle against a guy like that. Sometimes the baseball gods will smile down on you, and they did for me.”
Banuelos finished the game with 5 and 2/3 innings, giving up no runs on only two hits, with seven strikeouts.
Washington manager, Matt Williams spoke about the rookie’s performance with MLB.com, “[He] changed speeds, kept it down and out of the strike zone. I don’t know what happened to him [when he was forced to leave], but once we got him out of there, we scratched one. But that’s all we could get tonight.”
Banuelos left the game in the fifth after throwing 75 pitches because of dehydration and cramps.
In other news, Freddie Freeman is saying he likely will not be back until after the All-Star break, and the Braves made a trade sending minor leaguers, Caleb Dirks and Jordan Paroubeck to the Dodgers for an international bonus pool slot.
The Braves will welcome the Phillies to town Friday night to begin a holiday weekend series. First pitch for game one will come at 7:35 from Turner Field, with Julio Teheran (5-4) going against Adam Morgan (1-0).
