Sean Murphy powers Braves to sweep of Tigers

Sean Murphy homered twice as the Braves flexed their muscles in a win over the Tigers.

Sean Murphy homered twice and Reynaldo López tossed five more scoreless innings to help the Atlanta Braves complete a three-game sweep with a 7-0 win over the Detroit Tigers.

López got his afternoon off to a good start. Wenceel Perez singled to lead off the game and stole second, but was left stranded as Lopez struck out Riley Greene and Mark Canha to end the inning. The Braves threatened right away against Tarik Skubal but came away empty handed. Atlanta loaded the bases with an Ozzie Albies single, Marcell Ozuna walk and Austin Riley hit by pitch. Adam Duvall then sent one deep in the hole to shortstop Zach McKinstry who made a nice stop and fired to Andy Ibanez who made a nice stretch. The Braves challenged the call that Ibanez’s foot came off the bag, but the call was upheld for the final out.

It looked like Ibanez’s foot might have slid off the bag, but there wasn’t a good enough camera angle to overturn the call.

Lopez allowed a single to Gio Urshela and walked Akil Baddoo but added two more strikeouts to keep the game scoreless. The Braves offense got back to work in the bottom of the inning. Murphy singled to get things started. Orlando Arcia was called out on strikes, Ramon Laureano singled to put runners at first and second. Jarred Kelenic popped out for the second out, but Ozzie Albies delivered a single to left to score Murphy to make it 1-0.

Lopez worked a scoreless third and the Braves’ offense got back to work. Riley doubled with one out and then came around to score as Murphy connected on is second home run of the season to push the lead to 3-0.

The Tigers continued to make Lopez work as they added two more hits in the fourth. However, Lopez got Baddoo to fly out to right to leave them stranded. Atlanta added another run in the bottom of the frame when Laureano jumped on a first pitch fastball and drove it out to left to make it 4-0.

The Braves weren’t finished in the fourth. Skubal struck out Kelenic but then hit Albies with a pitch. Ozuna worked another walk to put runners at first and second. After a mound visit, Albies broke for third. Skubal stepped off and threw wildly to third allowing Albies to score to make it 5-0.

Lopez retired the first two hitters to start the fifth before Colt Keith reached on an infield single. Keith moved all the way to third on a single by Riley Greene, but Lopez struck out Canha to stave off another rally.

That would be it for Lopez who allowed a base runner in every inning, but left them all stranded. He allowed seven hits and a walk to go along with six strikeouts over five scoreless innings. He threw 93 pitches with 59 going for strikes.

The Braves continued to add on. Adam Duvall reached on an infield single and moved to second on an errant throw by McKinstry. Duvall moved to third on a wild pitch and came in to score as Murphy connected with his second homer of the game to make it 7-0.

Aaron Bummer tossed scoreless innings in the sixth and seventh. Daysbel Hernandez retired the side in order in the eighth and Grant Holmes closed things out in the ninth.

Murphy came into Wednesday’s game hitting just .135, but finished with four hits including the two homers. Laureano, Albies and Riley all had two hits each.

With the win, Atlanta moves back to 10 games over .500 at 41-31. They wrap up their six-game homestand with a 5-1 record. They will enjoy an off day Thursday before heading back out on the road for a three-game series against the New York Yankees.