Right-hander Spencer Strider took a no-hitter into the sixth inning and Sean Murphy, Ozzie Albies and Matt Olson homered as the visiting Atlanta Braves defeated the San Diego Padres 8-1 on Tuesday to stretch their winning streak to eight games.
Strider allowed one hit — a one-out, sixth-inning single to center by Juan Soto in the sixth past diving second baseman Albies. Strider also gave up three walks and struck out nine over six innings to improve to 2-0. His nine strikeouts in eight straight starts dating back to last season tied a Braves record set by John Smoltz in 1997.
Albies and Olson each hit a three-run homer off Padres relievers late in the game after Murphy had a hand in both Atlanta runs off Padres starter Blake Snell, who took the loss to fall to 0-3.
Murphy drew a walk to lead off the Atlanta second. He reached second base on a one-out single by Vaughn Grissom and scored on Kevin Pillar’s ground-rule double that bounced into the left-field stands.
Murphy then led off the fourth with his fourth homer of the season, a 421-foot drive into the second deck in left. It was Murphy’s 11th straight extra-base hit – a Braves record.
That streak ended in the top of the eighth when Murphy singled in front of a three-run homer by Albies off Nabil Crismatt. Albies’ fourth homer of the season just cleared the glove of Padres center fielder Trent Grisham.
The Padres scored in the bottom of the eighth to snap a run of 25 scoreless innings. Grisham doubled with one out, moved to third on a single by Manny Machado and scored when the Braves were unable to turn an inning-ending double play on Soto’s grounder to Albies.
Olson’s three-run homer off Reiss Knehr in the top of the ninth traveled 440 feet to right-center. It was Olson’s sixth homer of the season.
Over the last nine games, the Padres have scored just 22 runs (10 coming in one game) while going 2-7. They have hit a major-league-low .203 (59-for-291) over that stretch.
–Field Level Media