Jorge Mateo smashed a three-run home run in his first action in nine days and five Baltimore pitchers combined on a five-hitter as the Orioles returned from an eight-game road stretch to defeat the Atlanta Braves 4-0 on Tuesday night.
Albert Suarez worked 5 1/3 shutout innings to help the Orioles to their fifth consecutive victory and their 15th win in their last 19 outings.
The Braves have lost four straight games for the second time this season.
Atlanta starter Max Fried (6-3) also lasted 5 1/3 innings, but he was charged with four runs on six hits. His personal three-game winning streak ended.
The Braves put two runners on base with two outs in the seventh before Austin Riley struck out. They stranded 11 total runners.
Suarez (3-0), who walked three and struck out four, allowed four hits, but two of those were back-to-back singles on the final two runners he faced in the sixth. Jacob Webb escaped the jam.
Yennier Cano, Cionel Perez and Dillon Tate also pitched in relief.
Baltimore’s Austin Hays posted three hits. Marcell Ozuna had two of Atlanta’s hits.
In the second inning, Fried was ahead in the count on three consecutive batters, yielding a walk to Anthony Santander and single to Hays before Mateo’s three-run blast on an 0-2 curveball. It was Mateo’s fourth long ball of the season.
Mateo hadn’t played since June 2, when he exited a game after teammate Cedric Mullins inadvertently hit him with his bat’s backswing in the on-deck area.
The Braves had three base runners but just one hit and no runs through two innings. The threat included Michael Harris II leading off the game with a triple and never making it home.
In the sixth, the first three Baltimore batters reached base, with Ryan Mountcastle walking and scoring on an outfield error. The Orioles then had runners at second and third with one out, but Pierce Johnson came out of the Braves bullpen and halted the threat.
–Field Level Media