ATLANTA (AP) — Orlando Arcia singled in the winning run in the ninth inning for his third hit and the Atlanta Braves beat the San Diego Padres 7-6 on Thursday night in their home opener.
Arcia hit a third-inning homer and also had a double.
With two outs in the ninth, pinch-hitter Eddie Rosario doubled to the right-field corner off right-hander Nabil Crismatt (0-1). Arcia followed with the single to center field that drove in Rosario to set off an on-field celebration.
A.J. Minter (1-0) pitched a scoreless ninth.
The Padres took a 6-4 lead in the eighth. Xander Bogaerts raced home from third base on a wild pitch from Kirby Yates. José Azocar followed with a bunt that Yates fielded before throwing wide of first base for an error. Cronenworth scored as Azocar raced to third base.
The Braves pulled even in the bottom of the eighth. Arcia doubled and scored on Olson’s single off Tim Hill. Travis d’Arnaud’s single to right field drove in Olson for a 6-6 tie. Juan Soto’s diving catch of Ozzie Albies’ pop fly to shallow left field ended the inning.
Matt Carpenter hit a three-run homer and Jake Cronenworth added a solo shot for the Padres.
With the game tied at 4, Bogaerts and Cronenworth opened the eighth with walks from Yates before advancing on Carpenter’s fly ball to center field. With two outs, Bogaerts scored on a head-first slide across the plate following Yates’ wild pitch that bounced away from catcher Sean Murphy.
Arcia’s second homer of the season, a line-drive shot off Blake Snell caught by a fan with a baseball glove on the front row of the left-field seats, gave Atlanta a 2-0 lead.
Carpenter pulled a low inside pitch from Spencer Strider over the right-field wall for a three-run homer to give the Padres a 3-2 lead in the fourth.
Snell issued four walks, including three in the fourth. Snell’s bases-loaded walk to Matt Olson forced in a run to give Atlanta a 4-3 lead. Domingo Tapia struck out Austin Riley to end the inning. Snell allowed four runs in 3 2/3 innings, leaving his ERA at 7.88 after two starts.
Cronenworth tied the game with a homer off Braves left-hander Lucas Luetge to open the sixth.
Bogaerts delivered a defensive highlight in the third after the Braves had runners on first and second with one out. Travis d’Arnaud hit a sharp grounder to Bogaerts’ right. Bogaerts made a diving stop before throwing from his knees to Ha-Seong Kim at second base to start a double play.
Strider recorded nine strikeouts in five innings but gave up three runs on four hits and three walks.
BULLDOG HEATER
Stetson Bennett, the quarterback who led Georgia to back-to-back national football championships, wore a Braves jersey as he threw out the ceremonial first pitch. Bennett fired a fastball that skipped off the glove of the guest catcher who works with team mascot Blooper.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Atlanta CF Michael Harris II left the game before the fourth inning with lower back discomfort, possibly the result of his head-first slide while stealing second in the second inning. The Braves said the move was precautionary. … The Braves placed RHP Collin McHugh on the 15-day injured list with right shoulder inflammation after his velocity was down while allowing one run and three hits in one inning in Wednesday’s 5-2 win at St. Louis.
UP NEXT
The Braves recalled rookie left-hander Jared Shuster (0-1, 7.71 ERA) from Triple-A Gwinnett on Thursday to start Friday night’s game against Padres RHP Nick Martinez (0-1, 5.14).
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