Braves bash their way past Angels, 12-5

Atlanta homered three more times on their way to a series win.

The offense put together another big day as the Atlanta Braves knocked off the Los Angeles Angels 12-5 Wednesday afternoon at Truist Park.

Yonny Chirinos made his second start for the Braves and got off to a great start, facing one over the minimum over the first three innings.

Atlanta’s offense got going in the third against new Angels’ pickup Lucas Giolito. Orlando Arcia singled with one out and then moved to third on a single by Michael Harris. Ronald Acuña Jr. brought them all home with his 25th home run to straight-away center field to give the Braves a 3-0 lead.

The Angels got a run back in the fourth. Chirinos struck out Shohei Ohtani to start the inning but then allowed a single to C.J. Cron and then walked Randal Grichuk. Hunter Renfroe then sent a ground ball that got past Austin Riley for a single to make it 3-1. Chirinos avoided any further damage by getting Eduardo Escobar to ground into a nicely turned 3-6-1 double play to end the inning.

The Braves added on in the fourth. Eddie Rosario worked a one-out walk and then moved to second after Arcia was hit by a pitch. Both runners moved up on a passed ball and then scored on a single by Harris to extend the lead to 5-1. They weren’t finished as Acuña singled to move Harris to third. Ozzie Albies brought him home with a sacrifice fly to push the lead to 6-1. Riley and Matt Olson followed with back-to-back homers to blow the game wide open at 9-1.

Chirinos retired the side in order in the fifth and then came back out to start the sixth where he allowed back-to-back singles to Luis Rengifo and Ohtani. Brian Snitker would then go to his bullpen for Michael Tonkin who immediately walked Cron to load the bases. Tonkin struck out Grichuk for the first out and then got the double play ball that he was looking for from Hunter Renfroe, but he missed first base as he took Arcia’s relay throw. Rengifo scored to make it 9-2.

Escobar then just missed a home run as he tripled high off the bricks in right center to bring home two more to make it 9-4. Tonkin recovered and struck out Zach Neto to end the inning.

Chirinos’ line would have looked even better had Tonkin been able to complete the double play. Still it was a strong showing in just his second appearance since coming over from Tampa Bay. He allowed six hits, a walk and three runs over five innings. He struck out five while throwing 75 pitches.

As the Braves are apt to do, they answered right back in the home half of the sixth. Harris began the inning with a line drive to center that Angels outfielder Jordyn Adams misplayed into a double. Acuña walked before Albies flew out and Riley struck out. Phil Nevin then elected to intentionally walk Olson to load the bases for Travis d’Arnaud who made him pay with a single to left to push the lead to 11-4.

Pierce Johnson worked a scoreless seventh and Kirby Yates pitched around a leadoff walk to Ohtani for a scoreless eighth. Atlanta added its final run in the eighth when Albies doubled home Acuña to make it 12-4.

The Angels added an unearned run off of Colin McHugh in the ninth to round out the scoring.

The Braves pounded out 12 hits in the game and were 5-for-13 with runners in scoring position. They homered three more times and now have 206 for the season. Acuña finished with three hits and reached base four times pushing his OPS for the season to 1.002. Olson’s homer was his 37th of the season. He also reached base four times.

With the win, Atlanta improves to 69-37 for the season. They will now head to Chicago where they will begin an 11-game road trip with a three-game series at Wrigley Field on Friday.