Soler, Wade and Ramos homer as the Giants beat the Braves 5-3
Associated Press
ATLANTA (AP) — Jorge Soler and LaMonte Wade Jr. hit back-to-back homers to help the San Francisco Giants beat the Atlanta Braves 5-3 on Tuesday night.
Heliot Ramos also went deep as San Francisco won for the sixth time in eight games. Mike Yastrzemski went 2 for 2 in his return from a strained left oblique.
Hayden Birdsong (1-0) pitched five innings of two-run ball in his first big league win. The right-hander struck out five and walked two in his second major league start.
“It is very special. Now I am in the books,” Birdsong said. “Can’t really thank this team enough for getting behind me and playing as hard as they can.”
Birdsong, an Illinois native who played his college ball at Eastern Illinois, had a crowd of supporters on hand for the performance.
“I can’t describe it,” he said. “It’s great. I had more people here than I had in San Fran last week. A lot more of my friends, buddies, and other family members. I can’t really describe it.”
Camilo Doval earned his 15th save with a perfect ninth inning.
Austin Riley and Sean Murphy hit back-to-back homers off Birdsong in the second. Ozzie Albies added an RBI single for the Braves in the eighth.
San Francisco trailed 2-0 before Soler and Wade connected in the fifth against Reynaldo López. It was Soler’s 10th homer of the season and No. 3 for Wade.
“(Soler) loves hitting leadoff. He’s done a good job,” Giants manager Bob Melvin said. “He had pretty good matchup numbers against (López). You’re seeing a little less chase and a guy that takes some pitches and takes some walks and in the meantime hits some home runs.”
The Braves put runners at second and third with one out in the fifth, but Birdsong struck out Jarred Kelenic and retired Albies on a flyball to left.
“You have to find a different gear to get out of a jam like that,” Melvin said.
The Giants pushed across another run in the sixth. Michael Conforto hit a leadoff double against Dylan Lee (2-2) and advanced on Brett Wisely’s sacrifice. Riley then misplayed Luis Matos’ pinch-hit grounder to third for an error, allowing Conforto to score.
Nick Ahmed drove in Wisely with a sacrifice fly in the eighth, but Albies responded with an RBI single.
Ramos got the Giants an insurance run when he hit a drive to right against Jesse Chavez in the ninth for his 11th homer.
López, who leads the majors with a 1.83 ERA, permitted four hits in 4 1/3 innings. He struck out six and walked four.
Riley and Murphy went deep with one out in the second. Adam Duvall nearly added a third consecutive homer, but he had to settle for a double when his drive hit high off the wall in center.
Birdsong managed to get out of the inning from there with a couple of flyouts.
Kelenic saved a pair of runs in the third inning with a stellar running grab of a deep line drive by Matt Chapman with two outs.
UP NEXT
Braves LHP Chris Sale (10-3, 2.79 ERA) will start Game 2 of the three-game series against Giants RHP Jordan Hicks (4-4, 3.36 ERA) on Wednesday.
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