Braves’ bats still quiet

ATLANTA — Yasiel Puig homered and drove in three runs after his return from the disabled list, Alex Wood pitched 5 2/3 scoreless innings to win his sixth straight decision and the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the struggling Atlanta Braves 5-1 Saturday night.

Reinstated after missing 15 games with a right oblique strain, Puig made it 1-0 with a sacrifice fly in the second off Max Fried and pushed the lead to 3-0 in the sixth with his 12th homer of the season, a towering shot off Luke Jackson that bounced off the third-level scoreboard facade in left field.

Wood (7-5) allowed one hit and four walks with five strikeouts. His performance followed Rich Hill’s seven scoreless innings Thursday and Clayton Kershaw’s one run allowed in 7 2/3 innings Friday against an Atlanta offense that led the National League for most of the first half of the season.

The Braves, second in the NL East, have lost four straight and 13 of 18 mostly because their bats have been quieted. They’ve averaged 2.2 runs over their past 13 defeats and have dropped to fifth in runs scored in the NL. Johan Camargo accounted for Atlanta’s offense with a home run off Caleb Ferguson in the seventh.

Puig hit the Dodgers’ 143rd homer of 2018, tops in the NL for the West Division leaders.

Wood stranded a runner in scoring position in the first and second innings as he improved to 6-0 with a 2.61 ERA in his past seven starts since he lost at home to the Braves on June 9.

He didn’t get a chance to face Tyler Flowers with two runners on in the sixth. Flowers began the game with seven hits and eight RBIs in 11 career at-bats against Wood, so Dodgers manager Dave Roberts brought in J.T. Chargois. Flowers struck out.