The Atlanta Braves didn’t make the best of starts to the 2022 season, a defense of their surprise title just a few months ago. But they have been responding of late by taking advantage of playing some of the ‘lesser’ teams in Major League Baseball, accruing 11 wins in a row following Sunday’s 5-3 triumph over the Pittsburgh Pirates. Adam Duvall, who had struggled like most of his teammates prior to the streak, hit two home runs and continued a recent surge of his own while William Contreras and Matt Olson also hit long balls in the ‘W.’
The Braves are now 5.5 games behind the New York Mets in the division, having cut a large part of that deficit down with this winning run. Elsewhere, the New York Yankees were clobbering the Chicago Cubs on Sunday, hammering them 18-4 in a runaway show. Matt Carpenter led the way for them with two home runs and seven total RBI’s while Giancarlo Stanton racked up three next to his name. The Bronx Bombers certainly lived up to that nickname here, and they have now won four in a row and sit comfortably ahead in the AL East by 8.5 over Tampa Bay currently. In other action, the Philadelphia Phillies saw their recent winning run come to a halt as the Arizona Diamondbacks obliterated them 13-1 on Sunday. The loss, their first after a nine-game winning run, was the first for interim manager Rob Thomson.
