Quick Hitters
Braves beat D-Backs
ATLANTA — For the first time in three months, the Atlanta Braves are a .500 team. They know more work must be done to join Arizona in the NL wild-card race.
Matt Kemp hit a three-run homer and Brandon Phillips doubled three times, leading Atlanta over the reeling Diamondbacks 7-1 Sunday for a three-game sweep.
Jaime Garcia threw seven strong innings as the Braves (4545) reached .500 for the first time since April 17, when they were 6-6. Kemp and Matt Adams hit homers a four-run third inning.
“That’s a good team we swept,” Kemp said. “We’ve just got to keep going. This is a step in the right direction.”
The Diamondbacks lead the NL wild-card standings, but have lost a season-worst five straight, eight of nine and 11 of 14.
“Obviously being swept two of the past three series is a big deal,” catcher Jeff Mathis said. “We’re just not clicking on all cylinders at this moment.”
Arizona manager Torey Lovullo said he doesn’t think his players are pressing.
“This is a very resilient group,” Lovullo said. “They have been all year. They should be proud of where they’re at. We know we’ve hit a little stumbling block and that’s part of the season, part of every baseball season.”
Garcia (3-7) allowed one run on four hits and three walks. He rebounded from a streak of allowing five or more runs in four straight starts to earn his first win since May 26.
“I’m not going to lie,” Garcia said. “The W felt good.”
Zack Godley (3-4) gave up seven runs despite his career-high nine strikeouts in six innings. He had not allowed more than three runs in a game this season before struggling early against Atlanta.
Godley already trailed 2-0 before giving up four runs in the third. Kemp’s homer, which barely cleared the left field wall, drove in Phillips, who doubled, and Freddie Freeman, who walked. Kemp hit the homer on the first pitch he saw from Godley.
“I think he was making mistakes out over the plate to some hitters who were very fastball conscious,” Lovullo said. “They made him pay for those mistakes.”
Sanchez, Spangenberg hit 3-run homers in SD win
SAN DIEGO — Hector Sanchez and Corey Spangenberg each hit a three-run home run off Jeff Samardzija and the San Diego Padres won 7-1 Sunday to take two of three from the San Francisco Giants.
Sanchez homered for the second straight game as he once again replaced injured catcher Austin Hedges. Sanchez hit a walk-off, two-run homer with one out in the ninth inning of Saturday night’s 5-3 win.
Hedges took a foul ball off his facemask on Friday night and has been held out as a precaution. Manager Andy Green said Hedges doesn’t have a concussion but has “general haze.”
It was the fifth homer for Sanchez, who has only eight hits this season, and the sixth for Spangenberg.
Sanchez’s homer bounced off the top of the short wall in right-center with one out in the first. Spangenberg’s shot went to straightaway center with one out in the third.
Samardzija (4-11) is tied with Colorado’s Tyler Chatwood for the most losses in the NL. He allowed seven runs and nine hits in six innings while striking out eight and walking none.