(Reuters) — Ronald Acuna Jr. launched a pair of home runs on Saturday night to help the visiting Atlanta Braves post a 5-2 victory over the Cincinnati Reds.
Acuna tallied his first multi-homer game of the year, hitting his third and fourth home runs in the last three games after he had just two in his first 42 games. Jorge Mateo and Matt Olson each added a solo homer for the Braves, who won their fourth game in five tries and became the first team in the majors to reach 40 wins.
Martin Perez (3-3) allowed two runs on four hits over five innings, striking out a pair and walking three.
Raisel Iglesias completed his 10th save in as many tries with a perfect ninth inning. The Braves improved to 33-0 this season when leading after eight innings.
Brady Singer (2-5) yielded three runs on four hits in five innings, walking four and striking out two. JJ Bleday hit a two-run homer for the Reds, who dropped their third straight and fell to 9-17 in the month of May.
Ozzie Albies began the second inning with a double and scored the game’s first run on Mike Yastrzemski’s RBI single.
The Reds took their first lead of the series in the bottom of the second, as Spencer Steer’s walk was followed by Bleday’s ninth homer of the season to give Cincinnati a 2-1 edge.
Acuna knotted the score in the third with his first homer of the day.
Mateo launched his third homer of the year in the top of the fifth, restoring Atlanta’s lead.
Singer then walked Acuna, Michael Harris II and Olson to load the bases with two outs. Albies popped out to end the jam.
Tejay Antone threw a scoreless sixth in relief of Singer.
Tyler Kinley took over for Perez in the bottom of the sixth, throwing just six pitches in a perfect frame.
Olson doubled the Atlanta lead with a solo blast in the seventh off reliever Brock Burke before Acuna’s 405-foot homer in the ninth off Lyon Richardson pushed the margin to three.
