Eddie Rosario hit a go-ahead solo home run in the eighth inning to spark the Atlanta Braves to a 5-4 win over the visiting Cincinnati Reds on Wednesday to sweep the three-game series.
Rosario greeted reliever Buck Farmer (0-3) with a fly ball that carried 398 feet and just cleared the fence in right-center field. Rosario went 2-for-4, scored two runs and hit his first homer of the season.
It was Atlanta’s first three-game series sweep of Cincinnati since 2014. The Braves improved to 6-0 against teams from the National League Central this season.
Kirby Yates (1-0), who pitched one inning of scoreless relief, earned the win. A.J. Minter, who blew the save in the first game of the series, pitched a perfect ninth and picked up his second save.
Neither starting pitcher factored into the decision. Cincinnati’s Hunter Greene worked six innings and allowed three runs on seven hits to go along with a season-high 10 strikeouts. Greene retired 12 of the last 13 batters he faced and did not issue a walk.
Atlanta’s Spencer Strider pitched five innings and allowed three runs on four hits and two walks with nine strikeouts. Strider has fanned nine-plus in each of his last seven regular-season starts.
The Reds jumped on Strider in the first thanks to Tyler Stephenson’s two-run single.
The Braves tied the score with two runs in the second inning on a two-out, two-run single by Ronald Acuna Jr., who went 3-for-4 with three RBIs.
Cincinnati scored again in the third on Wil Myers’ infield grounder that glanced off the glove of second baseman Ozzie Albies, but the Braves tied the game at 3-3 in the bottom half of the inning on Sean Murphy’s RBI double.
Cincinnati took the lead in the seventh on TJ Friedl’s two-out single that scored Luke Maile, but Atlanta evened it in the bottom of the inning on Acuna’s RBI single that drove in Sam Hilliard.
Friedl finished with three hits for Cincinnati.
–Field Level Media
