William Contreras homers twice as Braves beat Marlins 4-3

Atlanta clinches its first road series win of the season.

William Contreras homered twice in support of Kyle Wright as the Atlanta Braves knocked off the Miami Marlins 4-3.

Kyle Wright struggled with his command to start the game, but was able to keep the Marlins off the scoreboard. Miami loaded the bases thanks to a pair of walks and single by Avisail Garcia, but Jesus Sanchez grounded to first to end the threat.

After a 30-pitch first inning, the Marlins made Wright work again in the second. Wright retired the first two hitters but then walked catcher Peyton Henry. He recovered and struck out Chisholm, but his pitch count climbed to 52 through just two innings.

Wright settled in and retired the side in order in the third. Dansby Swanson made a nice play on a grounder up the middle by Brian Anderson to start the fourth.

That ended up being a huge play as Jesus Sanchez followed with a triple to the right field corner. Things then got wacky as Bryan De La Cruz grounded the first pitch he saw to Swanson who threw home and got Sanchez caught in a run down. Sanchez was tagged out and Riley threw across the diamond to catch De La Cruz who was tagged out to complete an unconventional double play.

Elieser Hernandez came into the game struggling but cruised through the first four innings. The Braves finally broke through though in the fifth when Contreras made up for a base running mistake with a solo home run to right center to give Atlanta a 1-0 lead.

The Braves extended their lead in the sixth. Ronald Acuña Jr. worked a leadoff walk and then moved up to second on a ground out by Matt Olson. Acuña then swiped third base for his eighth stolen base of the season and came in to score on an opposite field single by Marcell Ozuna.

The Braves weren’t finished in the sixth. Austin Riley flew out for the second out, but Ozzie Albies reached on an infield single. Adam Duvall then dropped a single to left on the ninth pitch of his at-bat to score Ozuna to extend the lead to 3-0.

Darren O’Day replaced Wright in the sixth. Wright clearly wasn’t sharp, but kept battling and was able to keep Miami off the scoreboard. He allowed two hits, three walks and struck out six over five scoreless frames. Wright threw 91 pitches which is impressive given that he needed 52 to get through the first two innings.

O’Day found himself in trouble to start as Garrett Cooper singled sharply to center. He then ran the count full against Jorge Soler who lined the 10th pitch of the at-bat into the left center gap for a double. Cooper scored all the way from first to cut Atlanta’s lead to 3-1. Soler moved over to third on a deep fly out to right by Garcia. Brian Snitker would then go to his bullpen and summon Jackson Stephens to face Brian Anderson. The move paid off as Stephens struck out Anderson and Sanchez to leave Soler stranded at third.

The Braves got that run back in the seventh as Contreras homered again to push the lead back to 4-1.

Stephens came back out for the seventh and pitched around a two-out walk in a scoreless frame. A.J. Minter took over in the eighth and allowed back-to-back singles to Cooper and Soler to begin the inning. Ozuna bobbled Soler’s hit in left which allowed Cooper to advance to third. Minter then struck out Garcia for the first out before Anderson grounded to Swanson in the hole who through to second for the out. Cooper scored on the play to close the gap to 4-2. Minter then got pinch-hitter Jesus Aguilar to ground to third to end the inning.

Kenley Jansen struck out the first two hitters in the ninth before walking pinch-hitter Jacob Stallings. Chisholm then legged out an infield single to put the tying runs on base. Cooper then squibbed a single down the right field line that scored Stallings to cut the lead to 4-3. With the winning run at second base, Jansen came back and struck out Soler on three pitches to end the game.

Atlanta improves to 19-21 on the season and will try to complete a three-game sweep Sunday when Ian Anderson matches up against Sandy Alcantara.