Acuna, Ozuna hit early 2-run homers, Braves beat Nationals for seventh straight win

ATLANTA — Ronald Acuña Jr. and Marcell Ozuna every a two-run homer within the second inning off MacKenzie Gore and the Atlanta Braves received their seventh consecutive sport, 6-4 over the Washington Nationals on Saturday.

After reeling off 5 straight comeback victories, the Braves prevented any suspense by taking an early lead to enhance to a National League-best 40-24 as they search a sixth straight division title.

Gore (3-5) made 39 pitches within the second as Atlanta went up 5-1. Ozuna’s thirteenth homer of the season sailed 426 ft to left and Acuña’s thirteenth homer went 413 ft to right-center. It marked the primary time in his final 11 homers that Acuña didn’t attain 420 ft.

Acuña added an RBI double within the seventh to pad the lead at 6-3 and led off the primary with a double, scoring on Austin Riley’s sacrifice fly to make it 1-all. The three-time All-Star and 2018 NL Rookie of the Year went 3 for 4 and is batting .333 with a .975 OPS.

Gore was charged with 4 hits and 5 runs in 5 innings and hasn’t received since April 26 on the New York Mets, a stretch of eight begins. The lefty has given up six homers in his final 4 outings. His ERA rose 38 factors to 4.04.

Rookie Jared Shuster (3-2), pitching on 9 days of relaxation, allowed eight hits and three runs in his seventh profession begin. The lefty was 2-0 with a 3.18 ERA over his earlier three begins however was chased on consecutive singles to start the sixth.

Jesse Chavez ended the risk by putting out two and retiring pinch-hitter Dominic Smith on a groundout. The 39-year-old then confronted the minimal within the seventh.

After Joe Jiménez pitched an ideal eighth, A.J. Minter earned his ninth save in 12 probabilities, however he gave up a leadoff homer to Stone Garrett to make it 6-4 earlier than retiring the subsequent three batters.

Washington went up 1-0 within the first when Lane Thomas led off with a triple and scored on Luis García’s sacrifice fly. Center fielder Michael Harris II made a troublesome operating catch as he banged into the wall.

Thomas hit a two-run double within the fifth to trim the result in 5-3.

Atlanta leads the NL with an 11-5 document in opposition to lefties this yr and improved to 17-5 in opposition to the NL East.

The last-place Nationals have dropped a season-high six in a row.

STREAK LIVES

Nationals DH Joey Meneses went 2 for 4 and has reached safely in a career-high 17 straight video games. He’s hitting .348 in the course of the streak.

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