Ozzie Albies connected for his 100th career home run and reliever Michael Tonkin earned his first win since 2016 as the Atlanta Braves defeated the visiting Cincinnati Reds 7-6 on Tuesday.
Albies’ milestone came in the fourth inning, a two-run shot against Cincinnati starter Luis Cessa for his second blast of the season. Albies was 1-for-4 and has now reached base in 21 of his last 23 games dating back to last season.
Tonkin (1-1) pitched three scoreless innings, allowing one hit and striking out three. His last major league win came on Sept. 29, 2016, when he pitched for Minnesota and beat Kansas City.
Nick Anderson pitched a perfect ninth to earn his first save.
Cessa (0-1) took the loss. He surrendered five runs on seven hits with one strikeout and two walks in 3 2/3 innings.
The Braves have won the first two games of the three-game series and improved to 5-0 against teams from the National League Central.
The Braves jumped on top 1-0 in the first inning when Matt Olson hit his fourth home run to right-center field.
The Reds rallied for four runs in the third. Tyler Stephenson was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded and Spencer Steer drove in two runs with a two-out single. A bases-loaded walk to Jose Barrero pushed across a run to give Cincinnati a 4-1 lead.
Atlanta answered with a run in the third on Ronald Acuna Jr.’s RBI single and regained the lead with three runs in the fourth — Albies with a two-run homer and Sam Hilliard with an RBI double that put the Braves ahead to stay.
The Braves added a run in the fifth on Orlando Arcia’s RBI single and scored once in the seventh on Arcia’s forceout with the bases loaded, giving Atlanta a 7-4 lead.
The Reds cut the margin to 7-6 on Barrero’s two-run homer, his first, off reliever Joe Jimenez.
Atlanta’s Kyle Wright, a 21-game winner in 2022 who was making his first start of the season, allowed four runs on four hits and four walks and struck out three in three innings.
–Field Level Media
