Travis d’Arnaud hit a two-run homer, his fourth in two nights, to help the Atlanta Braves to a 5-2 win over the visiting Texas Rangers on Saturday and extend their winning streak to six games.
The home run came in d’Arnaud’s only official at-bat. He also walked twice and was hit by a pitch. The homer, his fourth of the season, went 422 feet to left-center and came against reliever Austin Pruitt.
Atlanta has won the first two games of the series, which concludes on Sunday.
Atlanta starter Charlie Morton (2-0) pitched six innings and allowed two runs on four hits and two walks, striking out four. Morton struck out Wyatt Langford in the second inning to record the 1,900th strikeout of his career.
Joe Jimenez and A.J. Minter each pitched a scoreless inning of relief. Raisel Iglesias worked a scoreless ninth inning, striking out two, to earn his sixth save of the season.
Texas starter Nathan Eovaldi (1-2) threw 5 1/3 innings and allowed three runs on five hits and six walks, striking out six. Starter Jon Gray entered in relief and fanned four of the five batters he faced in 1 2/3 scoreless innings.
Atlanta’s Marcell Ozuna went 0-for-3 with a walk, ending his career-high 17-game hitting streak.
The Rangers scored twice in the second inning. Josh Smith drove home the first run with a single and Andrew Knizner plated the second on a groundout.
The Braves answered with three runs in the bottom of the second. Luis Guillorme drove in a run with an opposite-field double, then scored on a single by Michael Harris II. Matt Olson put Atlanta ahead 3-2 with a sacrifice fly.
Ronald Acuna Jr. tied Rafael Furcal’s franchise record for the most career stolen bases (189) since the team moved to Atlanta. Acuna is tied for 10th with Furcal on the franchise list.
–Field Level Media