Newcomb, Culberson power Braves past San Diego
ATLANTA (AP) — Sean Newcomb pitched six scoreless innings, Charlie Culberson homered, and the Atlanta Braves beat the San Diego Padres 1-0 on Saturday.
The NL East-leading Braves improved to 25-7 when their starter pitches at least six innings, and Newcomb has been a big reason for the success.
A winner in eight of his last nine decisions, Newcomb (8-2) allowed two hits, walked one and struck out seven. He retired the last 13 batters he faced.
Dan Winkler faced four batters in the seventh, A.J. Minter faced the minimum in the eighth and closer Arodys Vizcaino earned his 14th save in 16 chances by working through a shaky ninth.
Hunter Renfroe doubled with one out, and pinch-hitter Cory Spangenburg got plunked in the right side before Vizcaino struck out Franmil Reyes and retired Freddy Galvis on a grounder.
Jordan Lyles (2-4) allowed two base runners — a single by Dansby Swanson in the first and another by Culberson in the second — before Culberson's third homer made it 1-0 in the fifth.
Lyles turned in a solid performance after entering the game 0-1 with a 6.35 ERA in three career starts and one relief appearance against Atlanta. He gave up five hits and struck out six in his best outing since pitching 7 1/3 scoreless innings against Colorado on May 15.
Braves starters began the day ranked fourth in the majors with a 3.35 ERA and they improved to 5-1 with a 1.09 ERA in their last 10 home games. Newcomb is 6-0 with a 1.35 ERA when starting after the Braves lost their previous game.
Jose Pirela doubled to begin the game and advanced to third before Newcomb struck out Christian Villaneuva and Franmil Reyes. That was the only trouble he faced.
The Padres had won three of four and 12 of 17, but dropped to 34-39, last in the NL West.
STILL STREAKING
Braves 1B Freddie Freeman went 1 for 3 and has hit safely in 26 of 27 for a .377 average since May 19. He leads the NL in batting average, hits, on-base percentage, slugging percentage and total bases.
PHILLIES 4, BREWERS 1.
MILWAUKEE (AP) — Rhys Hoskins and Andrew Knapp hit home runs and the Philadelphia Phillies, despite stranding 15 runners, defeated the Milwaukee Brewers 4-1 on Saturday.
Zach Eflin (4-2) beat the Brewers for the second time in a week. Milwaukee began the day with the best record in the National League, and had scored 40 runs against the Phillies in four previous games before being stymied by Eflin and four relievers.
Eflin gave up one run in five innings. Hector Neris pitched the ninth for his 10th save in 13 chances.
A day after battering the Phillies 13-2, the Brewers scored in the first on Travis Shaw's single.
Hoskins hit a towering home run in the fourth off the window of a restaurant on Miller Park's third level to tie it. Junior Guerra (3-5) had retired eight in a row before Hoskins, who also doubled, singled and walked, hit his ninth homer.
The Phillies took the lead in the fifth on Knapp's leadoff homer to straightaway center.
Eflin gave up three hits, struck out six and walked one. He helped his cause by picking off Lorenzo Cain at first base with one out in the fourth.
Philadelphia extended its lead in the sixth when J.P. Crawford drew a two-out, bases-loaded walk from reliever Boone Logan — Milwaukee pitchers walked a season-high 10. Cesar Hernandez followed with an infield single.
PIRATES 6, REDS 2.
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Pittsburgh Pirates manager Clint Hurdle insists he hasn't been keeping close tabs of his team's slide following a hot start. He wasn't aware the Pirates had dropped eight straight series until someone mentioned it to him earlier in the week.
"If somebody would have told me you're going to lose eight series, you'd think you're going to be horrible," Hurdle said. "We're not horrible. We're fighting. And we believe that our best baseball is in front of us."
It is, at least when the Pirates play the struggling Cincinnati Reds. Josh Harrison hit a tworun homer, Colin Moran and Elias Diaz added solo shots and the Pirates pulled away for a 6-2 victory on Saturday to push their modest winning streak to three and assuring themselves of their first positive series since taking a two-game set from the Chicago White Sox a month ago.
"We know what's happened here the past couple weeks," Harrison said. "Guys are still plugging away and coming ready to show up every day and we've had three in a row. We know that doesn't speak for what's happened or what will happen. We've just got to continue to keep bringing it every day."
Moran and Diaz both went deep off Luis Castillo (4-8) to give Pittsburgh the lead. Harrison hit his fourth of the season off reliever Austin Brice in the sixth. The Cincinnati native finished 2 for 4 is hitting .368 (14 for 38) against the Reds.
"Any time you can have a total offensive effort like that, it shows that we're doing what we're supposed to, taking advantage of mistake pitches and when presented with an opportunity to move a runner, get it done," Harrison said.
Ivan Nova (4-5) worked through heavy traffic on a day his breaking ball abandoned him to last six innings and pick up his second victory in as many starts since returning from the 10-day disabled list with a sprained right ring finger. Nova allowed only Eugenio Suarez's 13th home run in the second, striking out three while giving up three walks.