Padres halt Braves' streak with reinforcements coming

Struggling Juan Soto homered and Nick Martinez pitched seven strong innings as the Padres beat NL Eastleading Atlanta 1-0 Wednesday in San Diego to snap the Braves’ win streak at eight.

The Braves, who had the longest active winning streak in the majors, were shut out for the first time this season.

The Padres won for just the second time in eight games and will welcome back star Fernando Tatisjr. today in the opening game of a fourgame series at Arizona. Tatis finished an 80-game PED suspension on Wednesday.

San Diego is looking for an infusion of energy from Tatis, an electrifying player who will be in right field when he returns, rather than shortstop, where he was an All-star in 2021. San Diego’s star-laden roster had scored just one run in its previous three games, all loses, and hadn’t had a lead since Saturday night, when it beat Milwaukee 10-3.

Even with the win, which gave San Diego a 4-3 series win vs. Atlanta, the Padres are two games under .500.

Tatis, an All-star in 2021, missed all of 2022. He was on the cusp of returning from a broken wrist suffered in a motorcycle accident in his native Dominican Republic in December 2021 when he was suspended on Aug. 12.

“It’s been a long time. I’m looking forward to getting him in there,” said manager Bob Melvin.

Right-hander Joe Musgrove, who broke his left big toe in a weight room accident in spring training, will make his season debut Saturday night.

“It’s almost like the reinforcements are coming. Personnel-wise, we’re going to have a much better team,” Melvin said.

Soto, hitting just .175 coming in, drove a pitch from Charlie Morton (2-2) to deep right-center leading off the fourth, his fourth homer of the season. CARDINALS 14, DIAMONDBACKS 5 >>Tommy Edman had a three-run homer with a career-best five RBIS, Nolan Gorman hit his first big league grand slam and the Cardinals avoided a threegame sweep in St. Louis. Madison Bumgarner (0-3) was hit hard again, allowing seven runs, seven hits and four walks in three innings.

Yandy Díaz homered on the third pitch of Levi Stoudt’s big league debut to spark a six-run first inning for visiting Tampa Bay. RANGERS 12 ROYALS 3 >> Jonah Heim hit a three-run homer, Marcus Semien had three hits and drove in a pair of runs, and Texas wrapped up a sweep of their threegame series in Kansas City.

TWINS 10, RED SOX 4 >> Joey Gallo hit a three-run homer in his return from the injured list, and Trevor Larnach and Edouard Julien also homered to lift visiting Minnesota.

GUARDIANS 3 TIGERS 2 >> José Ramírez bounced back from the first four-strikeout game of his career with a three-run homer in the sixth for visiting Cleveland.

PHILLIES 5, WHITE SOX 2 >> Trea Turner homered and had three hits, Brandon Marsh also went deep for visiting Philadelphia.

PIRATES 14, ROCKIES 3 >>

Castro hit a 458-foot homer and drove in four runs, helping Pittsburgh complete its first three-game sweep at Denver since 2019. GIANTS 5, MARLINS 2 (11 INNINGS) >> Michael Conforto and Mike Yastrzemski hit two-run homers off Devin Smeltzer (0-1) in the 11th inning, as visting San Francisco Giants stopped a fivegame losing streak.

CUBS 12, ATHLETICS 2 >> Dansby Swanson scored the tiebreaking run on an infield grounder to spark a four-run sixth, and visiting Chicago reached Oakland’s bullpen for 10 runs to complete a three-game sweep.