ATLANTA — The Baltimore Orioles and Atlanta Braves entered this weekend’s series as near-mirror images of one another.
When the season began, both teams had World Series aspirations anchored by talented, mostly homegrown lineups. Injuries and underperformance have caused them to play well below expectations, placing them outside the playoff picture heading into Friday’s series opener.
The Orioles (40-49) showed there is a difference between them this weekend, however, sweeping the Braves (39-50) with a 2-1 win Sunday afternoon. Trevor Rogers continued his resurgence with 6 2/3 shutout innings and Jackson Holliday went 4 for 4 at the plate and smacked his 11th home run of the season, a two-run shot in the third that proved to be the difference.