An all-around effort from the Braves on Sunday sent them to an 8-1 victory over the Reds to avoid a sweep. Solid pitching, great defense and hot bats all contributed in the win.
Sean Newcomb picked up his second career win — and first at SunTrust Park — by hurling a solid five innings. He never had a 1-2-3 inning and thus racked up 94 pitches in those frames, but he was able to wiggle out of trouble each time, including bases loaded situations in the third and the fifth inning.
The strong defense came into play in the third inning, after the Reds loaded the bases with one out. Joey Votto tested the vertical leap of Braves second baseman Ozzie Albies by ripping a liner over his head, but Albies’ leap was high enough to make the remarkable snag.
The following batter, Adam Duvall, tapped one in no-man’s land between first base and the pitcher’s mound. Newcomb scrambled over to retrieve the ball, dove to the ground, picked up the ball with his hand and flung it to Freddie Freeman in time to get Duvall.
The Braves got on the board in the third inning with three straight knocks. Brandon Phillips singled and Freeman doubled to put a pair of runners in scoring position. Nick Markakis drove both of them in with his own double to give Atlanta the 2-0 edge.
Reds’ rookie pitcher Luis Castillo was impressive for the most part, surrendering the two runs in four innings to go along with two walks and eight strikeouts, but he tallied 90 pitches in those four innings and was taken down.
Drew Storen replaced him in the fifth, and the Braves teed off on the former Nationals closer. Phillips singled through the left side the lead off the inning, Freeman popped a ground-rule double down the left field line and Markakis was intentionally walked to load the bases for Tyler Flowers.
Flowers made no mistake with a hanging slider from Storen and smashed it into the Reds’ bullpen for the 6-0 lead in the blink of an eye.
Later in the inning, Albies tripled on a shallow fly ball that Duvall dove for and was unable to come up with. Dansby Swanson drove him in and later scored on Phillips’ RBI single to make it 8-0.
Matt Wisler was lights out in three innings of relief work. Recalled Saturday, Wisler pitched a scoreless inning on Saturday night before tossing three innings of one-hit ball on Sunday.
Max Fried finished out the game, allowing a run in the ninth.
Phillips and Freeman each registered three hits on the day, with the young double play duo of Albies and Swanson chipping in a pair of hits apiece.
The Braves are back in action on Monday at 7:35 p.m. ET, as they begin a series against the Seattle Mariners. The starting pitcher for the Mariners will be Andrew Albers, the minor league hurler Atlanta traded to Seattle on August 12.