Xander Bogaerts rolled a single through the right side of the infield to drive home Trent Grisham in the sixth inning Friday night, lifting the visiting San Diego Padres to a 5-4 victory over the Atlanta Braves.
San Diego’s bullpen held the Braves scoreless over the final 4 1/3 innings with Brent Honeywell (1-0) earning the win and Josh Hader picking up his second save on his 29th birthday, snapping Atlanta’s four-game winning streak.
Hader struck out Matt Olson before Austin Riley singled for his third hit of the game while reaching base for the sixth straight plate appearance. Hader then struck out Ozzie Albies and got Sean Murphy to ground into a fielder’s choice to end the game.
Grisham walked to open the sixth against Braves reliever Michael Tonkin (0-1). He moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Jose Azocar and scored when Bogaerts leaned out to punch a hit through the right side.
The Padres built a 3-0 lead in the first two innings against Braves rookie left-hander Jared Shuster, who was recalled from Triple-A to make his second major league start.
Juan Soto drew a one-out walk and eventually scored on a double by Nelson Cruz, who finished with three hits. Manny Machado, who singled, scored when Shuster, who also struggled with command in the first inning of his debut, issued back-to-back walks to Ha-Seong Kim and Austin Nola.
Azocar singled to open the second, stole second, moved to third on a fly out and scored on Cruz’s infield single.
The Braves tied the game with three runs in the third. Marcell Ozuna opened with a homer to left-center off Padres starter Nick Martinez. It was Ozuna’s second homer in eight career at-bats against Martinez.
Ronald Acuna Jr. and Matt Olson then drew back-to-back, one-out walks and advanced on a double steal. Riley singled home Acuna and Olson scored on a wild pitch to tie the game.
The Padres regained the lead in the fifth. Machado opened the inning with a double off Shuster, moved to third on a Cruz single and scored when Jake Cronenworth greeted Tonkin with a sacrifice fly to left.
But the Braves tied the game in their half of the inning on a bases-loaded, two-out walk drawn by Murphy off Martinez.
The starting pitchers finished with similar lines. Shuster allowed four runs on six hits and four walks with four strikeouts in four innings. Martinez also gave up four runs on four hits and five walks with four strikeouts in 4 2/3 innings.
–Field Level Media
