Friday night’s game was nearly identical to Thursday’s. A pitchers’ duel early set the stage for a late-inning Braves homer to take a lead. Only this time around, the Braves’ bullpen locked down a much-needed 2-1 victory to halt a four-game losing skid.
Ronald Acuña Jr. stepped to the plate in the eighth inning and absolutely crushed a ball 466 feet to dead-center field.
With a 2-1 lead in hand, Sean Newcomb came in to work the bottom of the eighth and continued to thrive in a bullpen role, throwing 13 of 18 pitches for strikes as he worked around a harmless two-out single.