*Photo from AP News*
The second team in the league to reach 20 wins is in Atlanta. Austin Riley drove in two runs, Chris Sale delivered on the mound, and the Atlanta Braves defeated the Seattle Mariners with a 5-2 victory Wednesday afternoon in Seattle.
After losing two straight games for the first time this season, the Braves rebounded and avoided being swept by the Mariners by winning the series finale. The Braves rode a 4 run inning in the 4th to improve to 20-9 on the season as May gets started.
Riley said of the 4 run inning that "A lot of guys have been picking us up over the last month. To finally get together and have a really good inning like that, that’s encouraging. If we can get going and the guys are doing their thing, I like where we will be."
After a scoreless first two innings, Marcell Ozuna gave the Braves a 1-0 lead in the 3rd inning when he drew a bases loaded walk to score Ronald Acuna Jr. In the 4th inning, Acuna Jr hit an RBI single that scored Orlando Arcia to double the lead to 2-0. Riley then doubled the lead again, hitting a two run triple to make it a 4-0 game.
Later in the inning, Riley came around to score on an RBI single from Matt Olson to make it 5-0 Braves. Jorge Polanco got the Mariners on the board in the 5th when he scored Seby Zavala with an RBI single. Polanco tacked on another run for the Mariners in the 7th inning as he hit another RBI single, this one scoring Julio Rodriguez to make it 5-2.
It was Sale toeing the rubber for the Braves, getting the win after allowing one run while striking out 9 hitters in 5 innings. Dylan Lee worked the next 1 2/3 innings and allowed one run. AJ Minter finished the 8th before Raisel Iglesias worked the 9th to pick up his 8th save of the season.
Sale said of his start that "I want to get back to doing what I know I can do. What I’m capable of doing, and just doing what I need to do for this team. As a starting pitcher we pride ourselves on posting and getting deep into games and that’s what we’re here to do."
Emerson Hancock made the start for the Mariners, getting charged with 5 runs on 5 hits and 4 walks in 3 2/3 innings, getting the loss to drop to 3-3. Trent Thornton pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings before Tyson Miller handled the next two innings. Tayler Saucedo and Austin Voth pitched a scoreless inning each.
Mariners manager Scott Servais said of the loss that "Too many free bases today. Uncharacteristically we walked a few guys, made some errors and you’ve got to play clean to beat good teams and they took advantage of it there in the fourth inning."
Both teams play their weekend series on the road. Charlie Morton starts for the Braves against the Los Angeles Dodgers Friday night while George Kirby goes for the Mariners in a tilt with the division rival Houston Astros.
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