Bad inning dooms Braves
ATLANTA — The Cincinnati Reds hit three home runs in the sixth inning, including a tworun shot by Adam Duvall, and Sal Romano threw seven strong innings as they beat Atlanta starting pitcher R.A. Dickey and the Braves 5-3 Friday night.
Matt Adams’ homer in the second inning gave Atlanta a 1-0 lead Dickey held until the four-run sixth. Duvall’s homer drove in Joey Votto, who hit a leadoff single, to give the Reds the lead.
Eugenio Suarez and Jesse Winker added back-to-back homers with one out for Cincinnati’s first three-homer inning of the season.
Romano (3-5) snapped a streak of three straight losses in August. The rookie righthander was dominant after giving up a second-inning homer to Adams. He allowed one run and five hits in his longest of nine starts in the majors.
Tyler Flowers had a run-scoring double off Kevin Shackelford in Atlanta’s two-run eighth. With Flowers on second base, Adams just missed another homer on a drive to right field that curved foul. Shackelford walked Adams before Blake Wood ended the inning on Ozzie Albies’ fly ball to left field.
Dickey (8-8) allowed four runs and eight hits in six innings.
Billy Hamilton led off the seventh with a double to right off Rex Brothers and scored when Duvall hit into a bases-loaded double play.
Rasiel Iglesias pitched the ninth for his 23rd save in 24 chances.
The Braves wore 1974 throwback uniforms to launch their Hank Aaron Heritage Weekend. The 83-year-old Aaron and his wife, Billye, took a ride in a convertible around the field in a pregame ceremony.
Before the game, Braves outfielder Danny Santana (left quad strain) was placed on the 10-day disabled list and infielder Micah Johnson was recalled from Class AAA Gwinnett.
Atlanta manager Brian Snitker said outfielder Matt Kemp (right hamstring strain) should come off the DL today after having no problems with an extensive workout.