Snake-bitten
Arizona deals Braves latest loss
ATLANTA — Nick Ahmed hit a tiebreaking single in the seventh inning after Zack Godley threw six strong innings asthe Arizona Diamondbacks beat the Atlanta Braves 2-1 Friday night.
Both teams began the week in first place but have since fallen out. The Diamondbacks began the night a half-game behind the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL West. The Braves, who have lost seven of their past nine, fell 1 1/2 games behind the NL East-leading Philadelphia Phillies.
Godley (11-6) gave up three hits in the first, including Kurt Suzuki’s run-scoring single. He allowed a total of two hits the next five innings and struck out seven overall. Brad Boxberger struck out the side in the ninth for his 23rd save.
Braves starter Anibal Sanchez was sharp as well, allowing a run and five hits in six innings. The right-hander gave up one run — when Alex Avila doubled to left and scored from third on Jon Jay’s blooper into shallow left field in the sixth. Jay moved to third on a hit-and-run single by Paul Goldschmidt but was thrown out at the plate by first baseman Freddie Freeman on David Peralta’s grounder.
Arizona quickly took the lead against the bullpen in the seventh. Daniel Descalso drew a one-out walk from Sam Freeman (2-5) and scored on Ahmed’s single up the middle off Dan Winkler.
Steven Souza Jr. led off the third with a double to left field, but with the help of a video review, he was out after getting picked off of second base by Sanchez. The review showed the tag by shortstop Dansby Swanson before Souza returned to the bag.
Many fans in the SunTrust Park record crowd of 42,130 left their seats when rain began in the sixth, but the only delay was for the grounds crew to add dry dirt to the mound.