Braves pick up Grant Holmes with another huge 8th inning, in thrilling 8-7 10th inning win

Looking for a series win in Arizona, the Braves hoped that Grant Holmes could put together a strong start, with the veteran Merrill Kelly on the mound for the D-Backs.

Things went well for the Braves in the first couple innings, as Marcell Ozuna crushed a no-doubter homer in the first and Sean Murphy hit a wall-scraper of a homer in the second.

Unfortunately for Atlanta, these were only solo home runs and Grant Holmes gave up a solo homer to Eugenio Suarez in the second to give the D-Backs a run. The Braves had a few hard-hit balls in the third, but only got an Ozuna single to show for it, as Grant Holmes struck out the side in the bottom third. After a fairly inept offensive inning for the Braves in the fourth, things fell apart a bit on Grant Holmes, as he lost his command, walking the first two batters. He fought back with a groundout, but allowed a line drive two run single on an 11-pitch at-bat and then the real killer, another home run to Suarez, rapidly turning a 2-1 lead into a 5-2 deficit. He allowed another single after that, but Snitker gave him a long leash and, to his credit, he battled out of the inning. For the next two innings, the Braves couldn’t find anything against Merrill Kelly and Grant Holmes gave Atlanta another 1.2 innings before giving up another solo homer to Eugenio Suarez, his third in three at-bats, ending Holmes’ evening. Holmes was largely fine against the non-Suarez batters, but those three homers are killers and you’d still like to see him reign in the command.

Kelly exited the game in the seventh and the Braves’ offense immediately got Atlanta back in the game, as Ozzie reached on a single, stole second, and scored on a huge Eli White homer just inside the left field foul pole, as he rewarded Snitker’s faith in him getting the start over Kelenic.

Scott Blewitt pitched another scoreless inning in the seventh for the Braves and handed the game over to the meat of the Braves’ offense. Matt Olson started a two out rally with a walk and the Braves capitalized, as Sean Murphy followed with a walk of his own, Ozzie hit a line drive RBI single to cut the deficit to one, and Michael Harris came through with a huge missile of a double to bring around the tying and go-ahead runs for Atlanta.

Daysbel Hernandez got the eighth, as he is turning into a prime high-leverage option for Atlanta and walked the first batter on six pitches, though five of those pitches may have truly been strikes. Fortunately we got a nice “ball don’t lie” moment, as Matt Olson made a nice play on a Pavin Smith grounder to turn a double play. Daysbel issued a more legitimate walk on seven pitches with two outs to Josh Naylor but struck out Moreno swinging on 99 above the zone to shut the inning down. Daysbell has really been a godsend for the bullpen early this year.

The Braves mounted another rally in the ninth with two walks and a single to load the bases, but Matt Olson got a bit unlucky and lined into a double play to leave the inning with nothing to show. Raisel Iglesias got the ninth, as expected, and as always seems to happen after a team strands the bases loaded, the other team capitalized, as Eugenio Suarez led off the inning with his fourth(!!!) homer of the game to tie the game. Raisel then allowed a hard single to Alek Thomas, but was gifted an out by Barrosa on a popped up bunt attempt and then induced a double-play to send the game to extra innings. There are definitely some alarm bells around Raisel Iglesias right now.

The Braves were fortunate to score a run in the 10th, as a Baldwin swinging bunt and a wild pitch brought Matt Olson around from second to score as the zombie runner. Dylan Lee got the 10th and although the runner advanced to third on the first out, he induced a grounder that Nick Allen was able to hold the runner at third on for the second out and then a chopper down the third baseline that Austin Riley made a great play to snag and made an extremely long throw from third to Matt Olson who made a fantastic pick at first for the out (though it was called safe on the field and only out on review).

AUSTIN RILEY MAKES THE LONG THROW TO BEAT RANDAL GRICHUK TO FIRST AS THE BRAVES WIN DESPITE ALLOWING FOUR HOME RUNS TO EUGENIO SUAREZ

Suarez is just the third player in MLB history to be on the LOSING team in a game in which he hit four home runs in. pic.twitter.com/xp00rUEaNQ

— MLB Walk Offs & Game Winning Plays (@MLBWalk_Offs) April 27, 2025

The Braves just got another series win, this one against a good team on the road and…I think the Atlanta Braves we know and love might be back, with Ronald Acuna’s return on the horizon. Buckle up friends.

Join us again tomorrow at 4:10 PM ET, as the Braves go for the sweep behind Spencer Schwellenbach.

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