The Atlanta Braves capped off a perfect 9-0 road trip with a 3-1 win over the Baltimore Orioles. Atlanta has now won 13 straight road games overall and moved 12 games over the .500 mark for the season.
Touki Toussaint and John Means matched zeroes through the first three innings before Atlanta’s offense finally broke through in the fourth. Jorge Soler got things started with a solo home run to left center to give the Braves an early 1-0 lead. That was Soler’s fifth home run of the season since joining the Braves and his 18th overall.
There's rain in the forecast but there's plenty of Soler power at the ballpark.@solerpower12 | #ForTheA pic.twitter.com/ZUeOt3TTfV
— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) August 22, 2021
Freddie Freeman followed with a double over the head of left-fielder DJ Stewart. Means then got Austin Riley to pop out for the second out but walked Dansby Swanson. Adam Duvall made him pay as he got a 1-2 fastball up in the zone and drove it into the gap in center for a double. Freeman and Swanson both scored on the play to increase Atlanta’s lead to 3-0.
.@aduvall123, for ✌️!#ForTheA pic.twitter.com/okP8rPt0uV
— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) August 22, 2021
Baltimore got one run back in the bottom half of the frame as Trey Mancini led off the inning with a double. He would come around to score on another double by Ramon Urias. Toussaint struck out Austin Wynns with with runners at first and second to maintain the lead at 3-1.
Touki allowed a lead off single to Richie Martin in the fifth but got Cedric Mullins to fly out and Ryan Mountcastle to ground into the double play to end the inning. He struck out Mancini to begin the sixth, but then allowed a single to Anthony Santander. That would be the last hitter Toussaint would face as he would give way to A.J. Minter who retired pinch-hitter Austin Hays and struck out Urias to end the inning.
Toussaint dealt with a lot of traffic but did the job allowing five hits, three walks but just one run over 5 1/3 innings. He struck out five while throwing 89 pitches.
Means settled down after the fourth and allowed just one baserunner over the next two innings. He came back out for the seventh and walked Swanson to begin the inning. He would then give way to Dillon Tate who was greeted by a single from Duvall to put runners at first and second. Tate came right back though and coaxed a ground ball double play from William Contreras. Guillermo Heredia grounded back to Tate to end the inning.
Jorge Mateo reached on an infield single against Chris Martin in the home half of the seventh but was erased as Wynns grounded into a 5-4-3 double play. Richie Martin followed with a single back through the box and that would end Martin’s afternoon. Tyler Matzek walked Mullins to prolong the inning but struck out Mountcastle to leave the runners stranded.
The Braves got a two-out single by Soler in the eighth but nothing else. Luke Jackson replaced Matzek and struck out the side in the eighth.
Will Smith took over in the ninth and promptly served up a lead off double to Urias. He came back and struck out Mateo and then got pinch hitter Pedro Severino to fly out to center for the second out. Maikel Franco struck out to end the game.
The Braves will return home on Monday where they will face the red hot New York Yankees in a brief two-game series at Truist Park.