William Contreras hit two of the Atlanta Braves’ four home runs in a 6-3 victory over the Texas Rangers on Friday in Arlington, Texas.
It was Contreras’ first career multi-homer performance.
In his first start since being recalled from Triple-A Gwinnett on Thursday, Contreras hit a homer with the bases empty in the fourth inning and added another solo shot that traveled 435 feet in the sixth inning.
Austin Riley hit a two-run homer, his sixth, in the first inning. Travis Demeritte connected on his second homer of the season, an inside-the-parker, in the third. Demeritte hit a line drive that skipped past center fielder Adolis Garcia and rolled to the track. Demeritte scored on a slide ahead of the throw.
Contreras, Riley and Demeritte each had two hits and combined to score five runs and drive in five.
The Braves lead the National League with 28 home runs.
Atlanta starter Ian Anderson (2-1) pitched six innings, his longest stint of the season, and allowed two runs on three hits, two walks and five strikeouts.
Kenley Jansen pitched a scoreless ninth inning to earn his sixth save.
The Braves improved to 6-0 when their starting pitcher has worked at least five innings.
Garrett Richards (0-1) opened the game for Texas and allowed two runs in one inning before giving way to Spencer Howard, who gave up one run on two hits, two walks and three strikeouts in 1 2/3 innings before being lifted. It was Richards’ second start since being activated from the injured list with a cracked fingernail/blister.
Texas got a run in the second on Garcia’s fourth homer, a shot to left-center, and tacked on a run in the sixth when Marcus Semien, who led off with a double, scored on Garcia’s infield out.
The Rangers made it 6-3 in the eighth inning on Corey Seager’s home run off Will Smith. It was Seager’s third homer of the season.
Atlanta has won three of its last four. Texas has lost four in a row.
The two teams are meeting for the first time since 2017, when the Rangers won two of three in Atlanta. The Rangers swept the last three-game series played in Arlington.
-Field Level Media
