Adam Duvall hits a pinch-hit homer off Jack Flaherty, a breakdown
What Happened
In a tight pitcher's duel between the Atlanta Braves and the St. Louis Cardinals, the game remains scoreless heading into the top of the seventh inning. Braves outfielder Adam Duvall steps up to the plate as a pinch hitter against Cardinals starting pitcher Jack Flaherty. Flaherty has been dominant, but the inning starts with a long, grinding at-bat by Braves catcher William Contreras. Contreras fouls off several pitches, driving up Flaherty's pitch count, before eventually striking out. This sets the stage for the veteran Brian McCann, who laces a single into the outfield against the tiring Flaherty. Next, Dansby Swanson steps up for the Braves. Swanson battles through a tough two-strike count, but Flaherty freezes him with a nasty curveball to record the strikeout. With two outs, Braves manager Brian Snitker calls on Adam Duvall to pinch hit. Flaherty looks uneasy on the mound, flexing his arm and hand after each pitch. The 3-1 pitch to Duvall is a nasty off-speed offering that the slugger swings over. But on the 3-2 pitch, Flaherty tries to sneak a fastball past Duvall and the Braves outfielder launches it deep into the stands for a go-ahead, pinch-hit home run. "That sucks," Flaherty says, clearly frustrated with himself. Duvall excitedly rounds the bases as his Braves teammates greet him with high-fives and celebratory fist bumps in the dugout. The Braves fans in attendance erupt in cheers, doing the signature "Tomahawk Chop" chant. The game-changing home run by Duvall gives the Braves a 1-0 lead late in this pivotal matchup between the two National League contenders. Flaherty pitched well overall, but the pinch-hit blast from the veteran Duvall proves to be the difference in this tight, well-played game between the Braves and Cardinals.
Full Transcript
Click timestamps to jump to that momentGame two between the Braves and the
Cardinals was a pitcher's duel
one-nothing going into the seventh
inning this one's brought to by auction
of Champions calm Joyce is going to lead
off the inning with a great at-bat the
results bad he strikes out but look how
many pitches he sees how many fouls off
he gets Flaherty's pitch count into the
90s before he can even record an out and
that's gonna set the tone and the stage
for the rest of this inning because he
made Flaherty work look at this two
seamer that thing just darts away from
the bat that's pretty cool so next up is
old man McCann he gets a fastball and
then another fastball and he flips that
into the outfield that fastball by
Flaherty was just high and straight no
movement now Dansby Swanson is up Dansby
gets that called a strike will probably
wasn't a strike Oh - now he's just in
survival mode throws the bat out there
and then a nasty curveball - strike him
out
so Duvall is gonna pinch-hit flirty
looks at the pitching coaches yeah come
out here I'm gonna need a scouting
report I don't know this guy what should
I throw them they're like well just get
him out do your try your hardest do your
best okay cool good advice off-speed
just open him up swings over it then he
comes outside he slips yeah he's like
are you okay he says yeah I'm good I'm
good he starts stretching his arm after
every pitch here look at this
flexes his arm out and then after this
one flexes his arm again stretches his
thumb out on his chest something seems a
little bit off with Flaherty but he's
going through it 3-1 pitch pulls the
string fastball count Duvall was
swinging big and he got him that was a
dirty pitch goes off-speed again but now
3-2 went to off-speed pitches in a row
Duval's like he's probably gonna bring
that fastball my way and he does and it
doesn't have a lot of movement and it
got a lot of movement the other way into
the bleachers home run that's what I'm
getting at
Jack Frye already thinking aw
man that sucks cuz I pitched good but
well that sucks I like this family
there's old man high-five and everyone
and then just fists flying he's pumped
up the chops going strong to people like
the Chop do people hate the Chop I'm
kind of indifferent I guess I like it I
don't really care this one was brought
to you by auction of Champions calm
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