The date was May 20th, 2018. The Sunday afternoon sunshine made for a perfect day at the ballpark, and the Braves, at 27-17, had been looking good over the first quarter of the season. I honestly couldn't remember the last time the team was at ten games over .500, but I wasn't getting my hopes up. After all, they had been on an embarrassing run of losing seasons during their multi-year rebuild, and everyone was losing patience. When combining the 2015-2016 seasons, the Braves only won 135 games and they settled at the bottom of the division, looking nothing like the Atlanta Braves I'd always known.
The team showed some life in their 2017 campaign, which satisfied many fans as evidence that the organizational overhaul was working, but they had still only won 72 games and missed the playoffs for the fourth straight year.
I Wasn't Convinced... Yet
The emergence of rookie superstar, Ronald Acuña Jr, a month into the 2018 season was a jolt of adrenaline to the team. Braves Baseball was fun again. The team was winning. The quirky friendship of Ozzie Albies and Acuña Jr. quickly blossomed to infectious levels in the clubhouse. And though they were turning things around, they still had yet to truly impress me. I felt they weren't ready to compete with the likes of the Astros and Dodgers, despite all the signs of improvement they were showing on the field.
That would all change that Sunday afternoon in Atlanta, the deciding game of a split series with the Marlins. Braves struggling ace, Julio Teheran, took the mound for what would prove to be a rocky start. He gave up six earned runs over five innings before Braves manager, Brian Snitker, yanked him from the game. The offense wasn't helping matters, as Marlins lefty, Wei-Yin Chen, blanked the Braves' bats through five innings. A triggering sight for a recovering fan.
9-4
Heading into the bottom of the ninth inning, the Braves came to the plate down five runs. Dansby Swanson quickly led off the inning with a lifeless strikeout and slumped back to the dugout, expecting to be done for the day.
One Down
After journeyman, Ryan Flaherty, drew a walk, Ozzie Albies came to the plate and drove a base hit through the right side to put runners at first and third. It's at this moment that commentator, Chip Caray, brought up the fact that eight years earlier—to the day—the Braves had come back to walk off the Cincinnati Reds on a Brooks Conrad grand slam that shocked the entirety of Braves Nation. They beat the Reds that day by a score of 10-9.
Acuña Jr. lifted a fly ball to centerfield, driving in Ryan Flaherty on the sacrifice fly, and now the Marlins only led by four runs... But the Braves were down to their final out.
Two Down
9-5
Next up, Freddie Freeman, as stoic and disciplined as they come, loomed in the lefthand batter's box. Freddie ran the count full before putting the ball in play on a weak ground ball to first base. A true shift in momentum occurred here, as this should have been the end of the game, but Marlin's first baseman, Miguel Rojas, botched the toss to his pitcher and Freddie safely reached on the throwing error. Ozzie came around to score on the play.
9-6
"I will strip down and run through the streets naked if they pull this off."
Those are the words I told my wife as we watched the Braves chip away at the Marlins' lead. I wasn't even truly considering a Braves comeback as a possible outcome. Scoring four runs with two outs is never easy, but in the ninth inning? With Nick Markakis up to bat? I had already chalked this up to another loss. I didn't even like that they were toying with me by hinting at a comeback, to be honest. That's when Markakis sliced a single up the middle to score Freeman from second base, and the Braves now only trailed the Marlins by two runs.
9-7
The Marlins went to their bullpen, bringing in Tyron Guerrero to try to salvage their win as he faced Braves catcher Tyler Flowers. Guerrero immediately looked wild, and Markakis took second base on an uncontested steal. Flowers walked on five pitches, bringing the potential winning run to the plate in pinch hitter Kurt Suzuki.
Suzuki ripped a single to left field on the first pitch he saw, scoring Markakis from second, and cutting the lead to just one run as perhaps the smoothest player in franchise history, Johan Camargo, stepped in the box. A wild pitch from Guerrero moved the potential tying run to third base.
9-8
Okay, so, now my palms were starting to sweat as I inched closer to my television. This would be so Braves of them to let me down now. Who wasn't sweating? The cool and collected Johan Camargo, who sat on four consecutive balls out of the zone before strutting down to first base. The bases were now loaded for shortstop Dansby Swanson—who, if you remember, led off the inning with a swinging strikeout. Could he redeem himself? And on the anniversary of the Brooks Conrad game, with two outs, and the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth? You couldn't script this any better.
Unlike Freeman and Camargo, Dansby made me nervous, especially after he swung through a bad pitch and brought the count to 1-2. He was down to his final strike. Guerrero brushed him back with a fastball to set up the following sequence of outside pitches. Dansby fought off a barrage of fastballs, each well off the plate but too close to take with two strikes.
Guerrero delivered one final fastball, only this one trailed back over the heart of the plate and Dansby didn't miss it. He scorched a line drive down the left field line, already celebrating before he rounded first base to walk it off.
10-9
Ballgame
The place went wild. A pile of players collected on top of Dansby in the outfield grass. My wife told me I better strip down and get to running, but I couldn't respond. I just kept mumbling to myself in a state of elated shock.
"They did it. They did it. I can't believe they did it."
And they did it without the long ball. It was a string of solid at bats that resulted in walks, weak ground balls and a few singles. But it was enough. The booth let the moment breathe, but after a few moments, Joe Simpson gathered himself and came back on air to say—
"I don't know where Brooks Conrad is, but he's smiling." —Joe Simpson
The Braves would go on to win 90 games in 2018, reclaiming their throne atop the NL East. I could relax as a fan and enjoy the game again. And I don't know if Brooks Conrad was smiling that day, or not, but I do know I was smiling. For that was the day I was finally convinced the Braves had really turned things around—it's also the day I learned to never count them out, or else you might find yourself running naked through the streets.
I was able to find a video from MLB of the entire Braves' half of the ninth inning. Enjoy!
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