Braves Recap: d’Arnaud collects four hits, Braves hit four homers in victory

The Atlanta Braves had another high-scoring affair with the red-hot Cincinnati baseball team. The starting pitching was very shaky this afternoon, but thankfully the Braves bullpen was solid enough to secure a 7-6 victory and snap the Reds 12 game winning streak.

The first batter of the ball game was plunked. Ozzie then reached first on a catcher’s interference. Austin Riley then advanced both runners on a fly out to right. Afterward, Matt Olson came up first pitch swinging and broke his bat, resulting in a fly ball not deep enough to score the run. Unfortunately, the Braves rally ended when Marcell Ozuna scorched a baseball that somehow ended up in Nick Senzel’s glove despite getting turned around and getting some snowcone action in his glove.

Jared Shuster allowed the first batter to reach on a single in the bottom half of the inning. However, he quickly locked in and got three straight outs against the heart of the Reds order.

The scoring kicked off in the top half of the second inning, as Travis d’Arnaud essentially copied the opposite-field home run he hit last night to give the Braves an early 1-0 lead.

Shuster looked really crisp early on. The second inning was great work from him as he set the Reds down 1-2-3. His command was very solid, and he was pounding the strike zone. Shuster threw 19 strikes in his first 24 pitches.

Ashcraft continued to have a rough go of it in the third inning. Ozzie Albies hit his 18th home run of the season to lead off the inning. Later on, Olson doubled and was followed by an RBI single by Ozuna to give the Braves a 3-0 cushion.

Unfortunately, Shuster was unable to provide a shutdown inning in the bottom half. Matt McLain continued his solid rookie campaign as he tagged Shuster for a two-out, two-run homer to cut the lead to 3-2.

The offense didn’t stop there once we reached the fourth inning. Even though Ashcraft the first two outs rather quickly, this Braves lineup doesn’t allow for a moment of relaxation. Ozzie grounded a two-out single through the left side, and stole second base within a few pitches. Austin Riley then split the gap on a 111 mph double.

The next batter may be one of the hottest in the Braves' scorching hot lineup; Matt Olson hit his 200th career homer to straightaway center and gave Atlanta a 6-2 advantage. Olson is now on pace for 52 HRs and sits just one home run behind Shohei Ohtani for the major league lead.

Sadly, Shuster was once again unable to produce a shutdown inning. Elly De La Cruz reached on a single to lead off and Spencer Steer hit a Shuster fastball deep into the left-field seats. Shuster got two more outs in the inning but not without allowing a couple more singles and requiring Brian Snitker to make bring on someone from the bullpen in the fourth inning.

Michael Tonkin was called upon to escape the inning. He needed just two pitches to induce a pop out from Newman and escape the runners on the corners jam and keep the score 6-4 Braves.

I was surprised to see Ashcraft come back out for the fifth, but that lasted all of one batter after d’Arnaud collected his third of the ballgame. Fernando Cruz immediately put that rally to bed with a strikeout of Rosario and a double play off the bat of Arcia.

Tonkin worked around some Elly De La Cruz magic on the basepaths. After reaching third on a stolen base and throw into centerfield, Tonkin clutched up and prevented the run from scoring.

Tonkin came back out for the bottom of the sixth inning and put in some more good work. Marcell Ozuna gave the Braves some more insurance when he hit a solo homer to extend the lead to 7-4.

Nick Anderson came in for the seventh inning and got through a scoreless frame, ending with an Elly De La Cruz pop-out. In the top of the eighth inning, Ronald Acuña Jr. extended his hit streak and stole another base, but it didn’t result in anything as the Reds kept the game in striking distance.

A.J. Minter continued his great work as he got through the eighth inning in 1-2-3 fashion. Minter has now worked a scoreless appearance in 13 of his last 14 outings.

The Reds refused to go down without a fight as they got to their former closer Raisel Iglesias. With one out in the ninth Jake Farley and Will Benson hit back-to-back home runs to make it a one-run game. Thankfully, Iglesias got the next two hitters to strikeout and preserve a 7-6 Braves win.