Ryne Nelson allowed two runs and three hits over seven innings to help the visiting Arizona Diamondbacks to a 5-3 win against the Atlanta Braves on Wednesday night.
Nelson (6-5) struck out five and walked one as Arizona won for the second straight game to open a three-game series.
Nick Ahmed had two hits and two RBIs and Christian Walker delivered two hits and two runs for the Diamondbacks, who took the series opener 16-13 on Tuesday after getting swept by the Toronto Blue Jays coming out of the All-Star break.
Marcell Ozuna and Austin Riley homered for the Braves, who have lost four straight since winning their first game after the break.
Atlanta starter Charlie Morton (10-7) allowed four runs and six hits in 5 2/3 innings. He struck out four and walked three.
Morton surrendered a leadoff double to Walker in the second inning. Two outs later, Gabriel Moreno hit a ground ball down the right field line that skipped off the glove of right fielder Ronald Acuna Jr. and into the stands for a ground-rule double and a 1-0 lead.
Ozuna got the run back in the bottom half of the inning when he blasted an opposite-field homer to right to tie the score.
A single and back-to-back two-out walks in the Arizona third loaded the bases. Lourdes Gurriel Jr. then came through with a line-drive double down the left field line to plate two runs for a 3-1 lead.
Morton settled in and retired nine in a row before Evan Longoria walked with two outs in the sixth. Moreno singled to put runners on the corners.
Morton stayed in the game after a mound visit and Ahmed followed with a line-drive double into the left field corner to stretch the lead to 4-1, ending Morton’s day.
Riley went deep to lead off the seventh, cutting Atlanta’s deficit to 4-2.
Arizona tacked on a run in the eighth when Braves second baseman Ozzie Albies was unable to glove a grounder up the middle by Ahmed, allowing Walker to score from second for 5-2 lead.
The Braves scored on a wild pitch in the ninth to make it 5-3, but Kevin Ginkel got Sean Murphy to ground out to end the game and seal his second save of the year.
–Field Level Media
