ATLANTA — It had the signatures of a trick query, of being a surefire pathway to purchasing another person’s drink. When did Atlanta — the franchise of Glavine and Maddux and Smoltz, those guys who surely played only yesterday, or possibly they really were a protracted time ago — last have a 20-game winner?
Until this September, the reply was 2003 (and the person behind the number was Russ Ortiz). Then Kyle Wright, who spent much of last 12 months at Class AAA, won 21 regular-season games. But Wright gave Atlanta a masterwork, not an easy dose of seasonal trivia, on Wednesday night, when he crafted a two-hit, six-inning outing that positioned the Braves to even their National League division series against the Philadelphia Phillies.
And once Zack Wheeler, the Philadelphia star born not removed from Truist Park, found his sinker and slider had been found out within the sixth inning, Atlanta’s offense added its own computer graphics to a 3-0 victory. Game 3 within the best-of-five series will probably be in Philadelphia on Friday.
Until Wednesday’s sixth inning, though, Atlanta and Philadelphia were stubbornly scoreless only a day after an offensive scramble that ended with the scoreboard reading 7-6, Philadelphia.
There have been possibilities on Wednesday.
Matt Olson, the Atlanta first baseman, glared Bryce Harper back to 3rd when a grounder got here his way within the second. Philadelphia’s Rhys Hoskins slammed a ball to the warning track within the fourth. Olson soon slugged a protracted foul to left.
The sixth began sharply enough for Wheeler, who recorded a strikeout and got a flyout to center. Then a sinker darted into the elbow of Ronald Acuña Jr., who walked to first after being swarmed by Atlanta’s trainers. Dansby Swanson walked on a full count before Olson turned a slider right into a single. Acuña, his legs and speedometer unbothered by the wayward sinker, scored unchallenged from second. (Atlanta Manager Brian Snitker said after the sport that Acuña had “no structural damage or anything.”)
Austin Riley tapped out an infield single that gave Swanson enough space to attain. One other single off a slider, this one by catcher Travis d’Arnaud, brought home Olson, too.
“He had all the pieces going,” Phillies Manager Rob Thomson said of Wheeler. “I don’t know whether the hit batsman threw him off a bit bit or not.” But, Thomson said, Wheeler ultimately “just type of unraveled.”
Atlanta’s defense added a handful of dazzling catches on Wednesday that helped Wright, whose pitching style is more liable to allowing balls in play, stump the Phillies.
“I don’t have a very good swing-and-miss, four-seam fastball,” Wright said. Referring to the Atlanta defense, he added, “I attempt to depend on these guys so much. They’ve been an enormous piece of my success.”
Wright threw the sport’s first pitch at 7:30 p.m., after a rain delay that lasted nearly three hours. With Game 3 planned for Friday afternoon, each teams were keen to play sometime on Wednesday, but provided that the sport may very well be finished.
“We’re not searching for delays,” Thomson said before the sport. “I don’t think anybody is — the Braves, us, Major League Baseball. If there’s a window there, we’ll go.”
The window yielded a sobering result for Philadelphia: After Atlanta lost the primary division series game by a run, it won, 3-0. The Braves took the identical route last season against the Milwaukee Brewers — after which won the World Series.
Inside Pitch
The left-handed reliever Tyler Matzek, who last 12 months set an Atlanta franchise record for postseason appearances, had Tommy John surgery on Wednesday. Matzek spent a part of this season on the injured list, but made 42 appearances for Atlanta, amassing a 4-2 record, one save and an E.R.A. of three.50. He’s arbitration-eligible this off-season.
