With their 5-2 victory on Sunday at Truist Park, the Atlanta Braves completed a three-game sweep of the Arizona Diamondbacks, who have now lost four straight games.
In the eighth inning, Braves third baseman Austin Riley hit a game-winning two-run homer 446 feet off Miguel Castro, and Atlanta’s series victory was largely determined by late-game heroics.
In the first two games, the D-backs had chances to shut out the 2023 NL East champions. On Friday, Arizona was up 5-2 heading into the eighth inning but lost 6-5 in extra innings. On Saturday, the Braves recovered an 8-2 deficit to win 9–8, while the D-backs responded with a 6-0 advantage in the first inning.
Last season, the Diamondbacks (4-6) did not lose a series until July.
This season, the D-backs have rarely trailed early in a game. On Sunday, Matt Olson of Atlanta crushed a Ryne Nelson fastball 408 feet in the second inning. Nelson struck out Ronald Acuña Jr., stranding runners on the corners, but the Braves led 2-0.
Nelson then went on to pitch three innings with one earned run and seven strikeouts for the day.
Nelson nearly finished a perfect inning in the third, striking out four batters in a row at one point. After three pitches apiece, Riley and Ozzie Albies struck out, and Nelson had Olson down 0-2. Nelson’s opportunity to finish the first inning was ended by Olson checking his swing on a high fastball.
flawless inning by a pitcher for the Diamondbacks since Wade Miley in 2012.
After being chased in the third inning of his season debut on Monday against the Yankees, the right-hander rebounded to finish with five innings, three earned runs, five hits, and no walks.
In the fourth inning, the Diamondbacks knotted the score with two runs: a Christian Walker single to centre and a Chris Sale balk (third disengagement).
Michael Harris Jr. of Atlanta soon restored the advantage in the fourth quarter’s lower half with a solo basket.
After Sale left the game (5.1 IP, 2 ER), the Atlanta bullpen continued to dominate, going 3.1 innings with no runs scored between Joe Jiménez, Tyler Matzek, and Pierce Johnson.
The Braves’ relievers shut out the D-backs in the first inning, which accounted for nine of Arizona’s 15 runs in the series. This season, Atlanta’s bullpen has pitched 33.2 innings and given up seven earned runs (1.87 ERA).
Shortstop Geraldo Perdomo of Arizona was placed on the 10-day disabled list prior to the game due to a rupture in his right meniscus, which extended his terrible start to the season.
On Monday, the D-backs will play the Rockies in Colorado as part of their ongoing road trip
To begin the year, Arizona won three of four games against.
The probables for Zac Gallen’s matchup with left-handed Kyle Freeland are the same as for Arizona’s 16-1 victory on Opening Day.
