Field Level Media
May 11, 2019
Brian McCann and pinch hitter Johan Camargo each hit a solo home run and right-hander Kevin Gausman returned to form with six strong innings as the Atlanta Braves outlasted the Arizona Diamondbacks 6-4 on Saturday in Phoenix.
Six different Atlanta players drove in runs and helped the Braves win their second straight. The series finale -- and the final meeting between the two clubs -- will be played on Sunday. Arizona has won four of six games.
Gausman (2-3) pitched six innings and allowed only one run, breaking a run of four consecutive subpar starts. Other than a start in Miami -- when he was ejected in the second inning for intentionally throwing at Marlins' pitcher Jose Urena -- Gausman allowed at least three earned runs in every start since April 23. The right-hander allowed five hits and two walks on Saturday. He struck out six.
Rookie Jacob Webb retired two batters in the ninth and left after walking Eduardo Escobar. Veteran Jonny Venters, making his first appearance since April 14, earned his first save when he retired David Peralta on a grounder to end the game.
Arizona starter Merrill Kelly (3-4) also pitched well. He worked seven innings and allowed three runs on eight hits. He struck out five. Kelly bounced back nicely from his last start, when he allowed seven runs in four innings at Tampa Bay.
The Braves got a run in the second inning on Ender Inciarte's RBI single and added another in the third on Josh Donaldson's run-scoring single.
Arizona manufactured a run in the sixth on Nick Ahmed's sacrifice fly.
The Braves got the run back in the seventh when McCann hit a long homer to right, his third homer of the season and his first in Arizona since 2013.
The Diamondbacks cut the lead to 3-2 in the seventh when Adam Jones hit a pinch-hit homer off Atlanta reliever Josh Tomlin. It was the seventh homer for Jones.
Atlanta tacked on two runs against troubled reliever Archie Bradley in the eighth. Nick Markakis drove in a run with an opposite-field single and Ozzie Albies delivered an RBI single.
Arizona got to Tomlin again in the eighth when Blake Swihart delivered his third homer, a towering-two run shot, to cut the lead to 5-4.
The Braves added an insurance run when Camargo homered against Yoshihisa Hirano in the ninth.
--Field Level Media