Albies Drives In Two, Braves Flip the Script on Giants
San Francisco had the lead, the home crowd, and Rafael Devers doing Rafael Devers things — and Atlanta took all of it away. The Braves scored three unanswered runs to beat the Giants 3-1 on June 27, with Ozzie Albies delivering the decisive blows.
The Giants drew first blood when Devers doubled to right, scoring Schmitt to make it 1-0. That swing pushed San Francisco's win probability from 54% to 66% — a 12-point surge that looked, at the time, like the Giants were seizing control of the night. It was the single biggest momentum shift of the game, and it went the wrong way for Atlanta. But the Braves answered immediately. Dominic Smith singled to center in the next half-inning, scoring Riley to tie it at 1-1. Then Albies singled to center to score Dubón and put Atlanta ahead 2-1. By the fifth, Albies added a sacrifice fly to center — again scoring Dubón, who crossed the plate twice on the night — to push the lead to 3-1, which is where it stayed.
Mauricio Dubón was the engine Atlanta didn't talk about enough: he went 2-for-5, scored both of those runs, and was on base every time it mattered. Matt Olson went 2-for-4 and kept the lineup churning. On the other side, Willy Adames went 2-for-3 for San Francisco, and Devers went 1-for-4 with the RBI — a night that looks fine on paper but came attached to a week of noise. ESPN reported that Devers recently apologized to manager Tony Vitello over an incident at first base in a prior loss, calling the reaction 'blown out of proportion.' Whether that backdrop affected anything Saturday is impossible to say, but it's hard to ignore the context when he's the one who gave SF its only lead.
On the mound, the story of the night was Atlanta's bullpen construction. Hurston Waldrep started and went 2.0 innings, allowing 2 hits and 0 earned runs but walking 4 batters — a tightrope act that looks unsustainable. Reynaldo Lopez then covered 3.0 innings, giving up 4 hits and 1 earned run with zero walks, which appears to be the steadier hand Atlanta needed to close this out. For San Francisco, Trevor McDonald gave up 7 hits and 3 earned runs over 5.1 innings — enough to lose the game right there. Adrian Houser was sharp in relief, throwing 2.1 hitless innings, but the damage was already done. Atlanta's offense did exactly enough, and that was exactly enough.