Acuna homers once more and steals one other base, Fried stifles Dodgers as Braves win fifth in a row, 6-3

LOS ANGELES — The Atlanta Braves haven’t had a lot regular-season success at Dodger Stadium since 2014. They turned to native product Max Fried to vary that.

Fried tossed seven shutout innings within the stadium positioned about 15 miles from his previous highschool, and the Braves beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 6-3 on Friday night time for his or her fifth straight win.

Newlywed star Ronald Acuña Jr. hit his thirty first homer and stole his 63rd base in serving to the Braves enhance to 19-37 in 56 regular-season video games in LA over the past 9 years.

Fried lastly is feeling like himself once more since returning Aug. 4 from a stint on the 60-day injured checklist with a strained forearm.

“Definitely feel like I’d been going through the motions at times and not really been as sharp and focused on making pitches and winning a ballgame the way it was today,” he stated. “It was definitely kind of a jolt, and really going to try to use this as a springboard.”

Fried struck out six of the primary eight batters he confronted. The Dodgers didn’t get their first hit till Miguel Rojas’ single with two outs within the third. They didn’t advance a runner to second till there have been two outs within the seventh.

PHOTOS: Acuña homers and steals one other base, Fried stifles Dodgers and Braves win fifth in a row, 6-3

“He looked like himself,” catcher Travis d’Arnaud stated of Fried. “He was very comfortable, so I think he’s right where he needs to be.”

Fried (6-1) allowed three hits, together with singles to Freddie Freeman and Amed Rosario, struck out a season-high 10 and walked two. It was the left-hander’s fourth profession recreation with double-digit strikeouts and first since Aug. 30, 2019, in opposition to the Chicago White Sox.

Fried is regaining his kind with a month left within the common season. After going 90 days between appearances throughout his IL stint, his arm is contemporary for a possible prolonged postseason run.

“I don’t have a lot of innings on my arm, which is really nice,” he stated, “but it’s really just trying to fine-tune it and just sharpen and make sure that I’m the same guy that I’ve been in the past. I feel like today was a good step forward.”

The Braves (89-45) lead the Dodgers (83-51) by six video games for the most effective document within the majors and potential home-field benefit all through the postseason. Atlanta pounded out 14 hits in sending the Dodgers to a second consecutive loss for the primary time because the finish of July.

Acuña was at it once more one night time after he obtained married throughout the day and within the night turned baseball’s first participant with 30 dwelling runs and 60 stolen bases in the identical season.

He went deep main off the third inning in opposition to Julio Urías (11-8), flexing his muscle tissues because the 418-foot shot landed past the center-field fence. In the fifth, Acuña doubled main off, stole third and scored on Austin Riley’s double off the bullpen gate in proper. It was his tenth recreation with a steal and a homer, which leads the majors.

For the second straight recreation, Acuña obtained the higher of rival NL MVP candidate Mookie Betts. Betts, who hit .455 in August, was 0 for 3 with a strikeout to open September earlier than being lifted within the eighth.

Kirby Yates pitched the ninth to earn his third save.

D’Arnaud homered within the second and Marcell Ozuna hit his thirty second homer main off the fourth.

Ozuna added a bloop RBI single within the fifth and doubled main off the eighth. He scored on Eddie Rosario’s single for a 6-0 lead.

The Dodgers rallied with three runs within the eighth after Betts and Freeman had been eliminated for pinch-hitters.

“I never felt good with just six runs,” Braves supervisor Brian Snitker stated. “As long as they’ve got an out left, they’re just so dangerous, as we saw.”

Kolten Wong had a pinch-hit, three-run homer with two outs in his Dodgers debut, reducing their deficit to 6-3. Will Smith walked and Amed Rosario singled off Pierce Johnson, bringing Chris Taylor to the plate because the potential tying run. He went down swinging in opposition to Michael Tonkin.

Acuña raced in to make a knee-high catch for the second out of the ninth.

Urías gave up 5 runs and 9 hits in 5 innings of his second straight loss. The left-hander struck out 4 and walked two.

Eddie Rosario was caught stealing dwelling within the second. Urías’ throw bounced within the filth and catcher Will Smith one-handed it, tagging Rosario to save lots of the run.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Braves: All-Star catcher Sean Murphy obtained the night time off.

Dodgers: DH J.D. Martinez (groin) will play a few rehab video games with Triple-A Oklahoma City beginning Sunday and is on monitor to rejoin the workforce in Washington subsequent week. … RHP Joe Kelly (forearm) threw a 20-pitch bullpen, utilizing all his pitches and touching the mid-90s on the radar gun.

DULL DAY

Snitker joked that Friday was “a dull day” after Acuña shocked the workforce by secretly getting married hours earlier than the collection opener.

“I saw pictures. It looked like a really nice affair. Good-looking young people getting married,” Snitker stated, then joked, “I just hope they like the candlestick holders I got them.”

LAKERS NIGHT

Kobe Bryant’s daughter, Natalia, threw out the primary pitch because the Lakers franchise for which her father starred was honored.

The 20-year-old University of Southern California pupil tossed the ball from in entrance of the mound. It took one bounce and went into the glove of Betts, who was dealing with catching duties.

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