Braves fall to Astros late in all three games

Hayden Flinn Sports Editor

The Atlanta Braves are 22 games into the new season. They currently hold a record of 14-8, which is good enough for first place in the NL East division, as they are half a game ahead of the New York Mets (14-9).

According to MLB, this start of the season has awarded the Braves with second place in the MLB power rankings, only trailing the Tampa Bay Rays (193) as the supposed best team in baseball.

The end of this last week was rough for the Braves. They took on the defending world champions, the Houston Astros, for a three-game series at home in Truist Park. Unfortunately, the team came up short in all three games, allowing the Astros to complete the road sweep.

All three games in this series had a similar ending, with costly mistakes from Braves relief pitchers helping the Astros score late.

Game one was not decided until the final inning, as the Astros drove home two runs catcher Sean Murphy broke the goose-egg score with a home run to left field. Later in the sixth, second baseman Ozzie Albies homered game two. The righty went five innings, allowing seven hits, four runs (three earned), one walk and two strikeouts. The Braves to win, as he left the game with the lead, 1-0.

The Astros stormed back late for the third consecutive game, driving in two in the eighth team and have potential to do really well.” of the Year outfielder a season ago in Michael Harris II, their starting shortstop in Orlanda Arcia and a few others. in the top of the ninth after a two-run home run by former All-Star Yordan Alavarez. The Braves failed to score in their half of the inning, coming up short, 6-4.

Young has been a solid player for the team and won PBC Player of the Week on April 19. With the end of the season nearing, the Bobcats are looking to make a strong run in the PBC Tournament, starting Friday, April 21.

The Bobcats will take on six-seed Augusta University in a win or go home format, looking to take home the PBC Title.

Perhaps the only consistent bright spot for the Braves this past weekend was outfielder Ronald Acuña Jr. Acuña Jr. had a tremendous series at the plate. Over the three games against the Astros, he went five for 12 (.417), with three doubles, one walk and two runs scored.

For the rest of the lineup, the Braves saw a significant decline in hits. After this weekend, the team only has two hitters with batting averages over .300: Acuña Jr. and Sam Hilliard.

The Astros struck again late in game two to pull out the win. Braves to left center, driving in two runs and cutting the lead to just one run. However, the Astros kept their foot on the gas and scored two late runs again, one in the eighth and one in the ninth.

Kyle Wright took the loss for the Braves in fell in game two, 6-3.

Max Fried took the mound for the Braves in game three. The lefty put up a solid performance, going six and two thirds, giving up three hits, no runs, three walks and striking out five. Fried pitched well enough and three in the ninth, taking game three, 5-2.

The Braves are not 100% healthy, and it showed in this series.

They are currently missing their All-Star catcher in Travis d’Arnaud, their closer in Raisel Iglesias, their Rookie

The team will look to heat their offense back up in a four-game home series versus the Miami Marlins before traveling up to New York to take on arguably their biggest rival in the Mets. The hard-throwing Spencer Strider will take the mound in game one versus Miami.

Porchella

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Baxter knew he had to find a new location; he stumbled across DuBignon farm. Porchella was held there for the first time last year and will take place there again this weekend.

“It’s basically just a huge field that has room for lots of vendors and attendees,” Baxter said.

Preparing the farm for the event did not come without its challenges. Last year, Baxter installed electrical wiring. This year, a permanent stage is being built.

While Porchella typically features more than 10 artists, they are headlining eight this year. Baxter’s hope in doing this is that each artist will receive the same amount of exposure from the crowd.

Baxter is currently living in New York City and works as a set production assistant. Oftentimes, this constitutes working 14-hour days. Nevertheless, he orchestrates the festival from afar and travels to Milledgeville the week of for final preparations.

“I want this to be the next Deep Roots,” Baxter said. “This is a place to come and celebrate music and art. It becomes a place of community.”

Tickets are still on presale and will also be sold at the door. For more information, visit Porchella’s official Instagram, @porchella.musicfest.