04/17/24 05:26:00
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04/17 17:24 CDT Ozuna homers, Arcia's RBI in 10th lifts Braves to 5-4 win over
Astros
Ozuna homers, Arcia's RBI in 10th lifts Braves to 5-4 win over Astros
By KRISTIE RIEKEN
AP Sports Writer
HOUSTON (AP) --- Marcell Ozuna hit his major league-leading eighth homer and
Orlando Arcia's RBI single in the 10th inning lifted the Atlanta Braves to a
5-4 win over the Houston Astros on Wednesday.
It completes a three-game sweep of the struggling Astros and is Atlanta's
fourth straight victory.
The Braves scored two runs in the eighth inning to tie it at 4-4. Michael
Harris II started the 10th as the automatic runner on second and there was one
out in the inning when Seth Martinez (1-1) intentionally walked Matt Olson.
Ozuna lined out to right field to send Harris to third base. Arcia then singled
on a ground ball to left field to score Harris and put the Braves on top.
"He's got a slow heartbeat," manager Brian Snitker said. "I like seeing him in
big situations. Even last year he had a lot of big hits. He doesn't get caught
up in all the excitement. He stays calm and slows the game down and allow
himself a chance."
Arcia has five hits and five RBIs in his past three games combined.
"Ozuna was just encouraging and saying let's go," Arcia said in Spanish through
a translator. "Fortunately, I didn't try to do too much, and it worked out."
Pinch-runner Jake Meyers was on second when Kyle Tucker walked with no outs in
the 10th. Meyers moved to third on a fly out by Yainer Diaz but Jeremy Pea
grounded into a double play to end it.
A.J. Minter (3-1) got the last two outs of the ninth for the win and Raisel
Iglesias earned his fifth save.
Snitker credited his bullpen for his team's success in this series.
"If they don't hold leads and keep us close when we get behind you don't have
an opportunity to do that," he said. "That's the most valuable thing they can
do is just kind of keep the game in check and give us a chance and they're
really good at it."
Reigning NL MVP Ronald Acua Jr. added his first homer of the season to help
the Braves to the victory. Ozuna also leads the majors with 23 RBIs and he
extended his hitting streak to 16 games, which ties his career best and is the
longest active streak in the majors.
Yordan Alvarez and Mauricio Dubn both homered for the Astros, who fell to 6-14
and are last in the AL West.
"As a team we just need to come together and play better and finish games,"
manager Joe Espada said. "We've just got to play cleaner overall."
There was one out in the first when Alvarez connected on his homer to the seats
in left field to put Houston up 1-0.
Ozuna opened the second with his 432-foot shot to left field, which bounced off
the wall and tied the game.
Acua put the Braves up 2-1 when he sent the first pitch of the fifth inning to
straightaway center field.
The Astros tied it on an RBI single by Alex Bregman in the fifth and Kyle
Tucker's RBI double came next to put the Astros up 3-2.
Dubn hit his first home run of the year off Jesse Chavez to start Houston's
sixth and push the lead to 4-2.
Harris singled to start the seventh before a ground-rule double by Austin
Riley. Olson reached, and Harris scored on a fielding error by first baseman
Jos Abreu when he couldn't grab a routine ground ball.
There was one out in the inning when Riley scored on a sacrifice fly by Arcia
to tie it at 4-all.
Houston starter J.P. France allowed four hits and two runs in five innings.
Max Fried gave up seven hits and three runs in five innings.
UP NEXT
Braves: Atlanta is off Thursday before opening a series against Texas on Friday
night with LHP Chris Sale (1-1, 4.58 ERA) on the mound.
Astros: Houston is also off Thursday before ace Justin Verlander will make his
season debut Friday night against Washington. The three-time Cy Young Award
winner opened the season on the injured list with inflammation in his right
shoulder.
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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB
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