The Atlanta Braves continued to struggle capitalizing with runners on base, but a couple of long blasts pushed them to a 4-2 victory over Brian Matusz and the Baltimore Orioles. The win snapped a four-game losing skid for the Braves, and also gained a game in the standings over all four of the National League East foes.
Brian McCann continued to hurt baseballs in the first inning with a long, solo home run to right-center field to give Atlanta a 1-0 lead. That score held until the top of the fourth when back-to-back errors from Andrelton Simmons and Michael Bourn led to two Baltimore runs.
WIth two outs and a runner on first, Andrelton Simmons came to the plate. The young shortstop took an inside fastball and sent it deep to left field, just clearing the left field wall. The crowd of 30,384 at Turner Field erupted as the Braves took a 3-2 lead. Jack Wilson then followed with a triple and was driven in with a seeing-eye single from Michael Bourn.
Kris Medlen worked two scoreless innings of relief, and Craig Kimbrel closed it down in the ninth. That's the 19th save of the season for Kimbrel.
The two clubs will meet again on Saturday night at 7:15 p.m. It'll be televised by FOX.
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