San Diego sweep
Freeman, Soroka lead as Braves finish off Padres
SAN DIEGO — Atlanta Braves rookie Mike Soroka remains on a brilliant run on the mound, thanks in part to a mighty swing by veteran teammate Freddie Freeman.
The All-Star pitcher struck out a career-high nine batters to win his 10th straight decision, and Freeman hit a three-run homer to break a scoreless tie in the eighth inning Sunday as the Braves beat the San Diego Padres 4-1 for a three-game sweep to start the second half of the season.
The National League East Division leaders have won seven of their past eight games. They beat the Padres 5-3 on Friday and rallied for to win 7-5 in 10 innings Saturday.
Soroka (10-1) lost his season debut on April 18 against the Arizona Diamondbacks, but he has won each of his past 10 decisions beginning with an April 24 game against the Cincinnati Reds — a span of 15 starts.
The 21-year-old right-hander, who outpitched fellow Canadian Cal Quantrill, received high praise from Freeman and catcher Brian McCann, who is in his second stint with the Braves at age 35.
Freeman, whose All-Star selection this season was the fourth of his MLB career, was asked about Soroka being in the thick of the NL Cy Young Award race.
“Who cares about the rookie of the year (race)? I think he’s running it for Cy Young — 10-1 with a (2.24 ERA), what else would you have to do? He’s pretty special,” Freeman said. “For him to be only 21 and doing that, that’s what makes it even more special to me.”
Soroka got Sunday’s decision thanks to Freeman’s shot deep to right field off Trey Wingenter (1-2) with two outs in the top of the eighth. Matt Joyce pinchhit for Soroka with one out in the inning and singled to right. Ronald Acuna Jr. followed with a single to right.
Dansby Swanson struck out before Freeman, who had been 0-for-11 in the series, hit his 24th homer of 2019. Josh Donaldson walked, stole second and scored on a Nick Markakis single to center.
Soroka allowed six hits and one walk in seven scoreless innings. His previous strikeout high was eight in a 3-1 home win against San Diego on April 29.
“He’s well beyond his years,” McCann said of Soroka, who made five starts in 2018. “He’s composed, nothing really rattles him and he knows exactly what he’s trying to do. He can manipulate the baseball with the best of them. … His stuff is off the charts, his makeup and the way he works in here. He’s going to be really good for a really, really long time.”
Soroka breezed through 83 pitches on a 73-degree day.
“You get an opportunity to feel good on a really beautiful day,” he said. “Not too many day games that we get a chance to play this late in the year are going to be this nice. If you’re in Atlanta, it’s going to be 90-plus and it’s going to be a grind. So it felt really good to get out there, get some new legs out of the break and execute.”
Soroka was hit on the right hand by a pitch by Quantrill in the third but stayed in the game.
“The fact that he’s a good buddy of mine, it doesn’t make it any more important for us to win that game, but I’m glad to see that he’s doing so well,” Quantrill said. “Unfortunately he did kind of what he’s been doing against us.”
Atlanta’s bullpen faltered a bit in the eighth, when the Padres got a run on Josh Naylor’s two-out, bases-loaded single to center. Chad Sobotka, the third pitcher that inning, came on and struck out pinch-hitter Hunter Renfroe on a full-count pitch to end the threat.
A.J. Minter pitched the ninth for his fifth save of the year.
Acuna made a brilliant leaping catch to rob Manny Machado of a two-run home run to end the fifth. Acuna hit the fence in center as he made the catch, then tumbled to the warning track with the ball in his glove and his cap flying off his head. Soroka looked toward Acuna, pumped his right fist and tipped his cap.
The showdown between Soroka (Calgary) and Quantrill (Port Hope) was the majors’ first between Canadian-born starters since Ryan Dempster of the Boston Red Sox faced Scott Diamond of the Minnesota Twins on May 18, 2013.
Quantrill held the Braves to three hits in six scoreless innings, struck out three and walked one.
“They’re a good club,” Padres manager Andy Green said. “It’s obviously frustrating for us. Anytime you get swept it’s a frustrating series. I think these last two games in particular that we had every opportunity to win those baseball games.”
Freeman has his own connection to Canada — his parents were born in Ontario and he played for Canada in the 2017 World Baseball Classic. However, he grew up in Orange County — just up the freeway — and had a big cheering section in San Diego.
“I had every aunt and uncle, every single person, cousin, niece, nephew, every grandparent, so I had them all here,” he said. “So I finally got one hit for them.”