Atlanta Braves
R.A Dickey looked to continue his trend of splendid outings Wednesday afternoon to help the Braves avoid a sweep against Chicago. Dickey was coming off five straight outings were he never allowed more than one earned run and also did not allow a home-run. But sticking to trends was something that happened very little in this series for Atlanta, and that would prove true again on Wednesday.
The Cubs would open up the scoring in the second on an Addison Russell two-out double down the line. It was the first of four hits for Russell on the afternoon. Three innings later it was the Cubs pitcher, Mike Montgomery, surprising the SunTrust crowd with a moonshot into the Chop House.
The Braves bats were silent through five innings. Ender Inciarte broke that silence in the bottom of the sixth with a home-run of his own, cutting into the Cubs three-run lead.
Dickey would allow one more run in the seventh before exiting the game. His final line was 7 innings, 7 hits, 4 earned and 5 strikeouts.
A Tyler Flowers seventh inning homer once again cut the lead back to two, but it was far from enough. Javier Baez would put the game on ice with a three-run bomb over the center field fence in the eighth. Chicago would add on another run in the ninth, completing their three-game sweep in Atlanta by a final score of 8-2.
Freddie Freeman exited the game in the middle due to “illness”. It is great news that it was not injury related, but Braves beat writer Mark Bowman did not seem too encouraged about the immediate state of the All-Star slugger.
Freeman was still looking pretty sick and weak after the game. Won't be fun flying across the country with what appears to be a virus
— Mark Bowman (@mlbbowman) July 19, 2017
The Braves will head West for a four-game stretch against the hottest team in baseball, the Los Angeles Dodgers. Atlanta’s recent skid puts them 11.5 games back in the division and 8.5 games back in the Wild Card. With the trade deadline looming, the Braves are going to have to find a way to win some games in LA if they want to avoid selling all their pieces at the trade deadline once again.
Atlanta Falcons
There might not be much football for fans to watch this time of year, but there is no offseason for the players. Falcons rookie Duke Riley showed off yesterday how he is preparing to make an impact on the Brotherhood.
Think @1Goal1Dream will be ready to cause havoc on defense?
The man is pulling an SUV… by himself. #RiseUp pic.twitter.com/Fv45tmpOcL
— Atlanta Falcons (@AtlantaFalcons) July 20, 2017
Riley was not the most talked about linebacker throughout the season, but maybe he should have been. He was one of the best players on perhaps the NCAA’s best defense. His instincts are already beyond his years, he was the fastest linebacker at the combine, and guess what, he is pretty strong too. Riley could easily find himself starting at linebacker week one.
Atlanta United
It is so close we can almost feel it. The Five Stripes are finally back in action tomorrow against Orlando City after their two week hiatus from the pitch. Catch up on the action with a preview of tomorrow’s game here. Our man Jared Haulus always has the best insight on what you need to know before and after every United match.