(Reuters) — Austin Riley and Mike Yastrzemski each hit home runs to lead the Atlanta Braves to an 8-1 victory over the visiting Boston Red Sox on Sunday afternoon.
Atlanta scored in four of the first five innings and cruised to the series-clinching victory, as Grant Holmes pitched six innings, while Reynaldo Lopez and Tyler Kinley combined to worked three innings in relief.
Holmes (3-1) scattered five hits, walked one and struck out four. Lopez followed with two scoreless innings.
Drake Baldwin also drove in two runs for the Braves, who logged eight hits to nine for the Red Sox.
Nick Sogard brought in Boston’s lone run with a ninth-inning double. Jarren Duran went 2-for-5 with a double for the Red Sox, while starter Brayan Bello allowed seven runs on eight hits across five innings.
Atlanta worked a 30-pitch first inning from Bello, while getting a three-run homer from Riley to left-center field.
Four Braves hitters reached base before Bello recorded the first out of the second. Jorge Mateo doubled, Yastrzemski singled and Jose Azocar walked to load the bases. Drake Baldwin walked in a run and Matt Olson brought home a run on a ground out for a 5-0 lead.
Holmes stranded baserunners in five of his six innings, including a two-on, one-out jam in the fourth after Willson Contreras doubled and Ceddanne Rafaela walked.
Yastrzemski launched a leadoff homer into the right-field corner in the fourth and Dominic Smith had an RBI single in the fifth.
Back-to-back walks off reliever Red Sox Ryan Watson led to a Baldwin sacrifice fly, extending the Atlanta lead to 8-0 in the eighth.
The Braves were one out away from their fifth shutout of the season, but Connor Wong singled and scored on Sogard’s double into the right-field corner. Sogard was recalled from Triple-A Worcester on Saturday to take the place of injured infielder Trevor Story.
The game entered a 33-minute rain delay in the middle of the sixth inning. Red Sox catcher Carlos Narvaez did not return after the delay after he was diagnosed with finger pain. Wong came in as his replacement.
