Austin Riley hit a two-run homer and Orlando Arcia hit a solo shot to lift the visiting Atlanta Braves past the St. Louis Cardinals 4-1 on Tuesday.
Braves starting pitcher Dylan Dodd (1-0) won his big-league debut while allowing one run on six hits in five innings. He struck out three and walked nobody.
A.J. Minter closed out the ninth inning to earn his first save.
Cardinals starting pitcher Steven Matz (0-1) allowed four runs on 10 hits in 5 1/3 innings. He struck out seven batters and walked one.
The Braves took a 2-0, first-inning lead when Ronald Acuna Jr. hit a leadoff single and Riley launched his second homer in as many days.
Arcia’s solo homer leading off the second inning made it 3-0.
Atlanta pushed its lead to 4-0 in the third inning. Travis d’Arnaud hit a leadoff double and Sean Murphy hit two-out RBI single.
The Cardinals broke through in the fourth. Dylan Carlson and Paul Goldschmidt hit one-out singles and Willson Contreras hit a two-out RBI single to cut Atlanta’s lead to 4-1.
Acuna ended the rally by throwing out Contreras as he tried to stretch the hit into a double.
Dodd worked out of another jam in the fifth inning. With two outs, Juan Yepez hit a single and Taylor Motter hit a double before Tommy Edman flew out.
Drew VerHagen relieved Matz after Murphy drew a one-out walk in the sixth inning. Eddie Rosario hit a two-out single, but VerHagen struck out Acuna.
The Cardinals threatened again in the seventh inning. Tyler O’Neill and Yepez hit one-out singles off Joe Jimenez, and Brendan Donovan hit a two-out single off Dylan Lee. But Acuna threw out O’Neill trying to score on Donovan’s hit to end the inning.
Kirby Yates got Contreras to hit an inning-ending slow roller to strand two runners in the eighth inning.
–Field Level Media
