Braves blank sloppy Cubs to earn first win

[April 02, 2019]    The Atlanta Braves got solo homers from Ender Inciarte and Ronald Acuna Jr. and took advantage of six Cubs errors to beat visiting Chicago 8-0 on Monday and post their first win of the season.

The beleaguered Atlanta bullpen worked five scoreless innings and rookie Wes Parsons (1-1) earned his first career victory.

Parsons pitched one scoreless inning. He was followed by Jesse Biddle, who pitched two innings, and Chad Sobotka and Arodys Vizcaino, who threw one inning apiece.

The losing pitcher was Cubs starter Kyle Hendricks (0-1), who worked 4 1/3 innings and gave up seven runs (only two earned) on 10 hits and three walks. He struck out four.

Atlanta starter Sean Newcomb could not take advantage of a 5-0 lead and had to be removed after throwing 91 pitches. Newcomb was taken out after he gave up a leadoff single to Anthony Rizzo in the fifth inning. Parsons, who made the club when he did not allow a run during spring training, entered and got Javier Baez to ground into a double play and retired David Bote on a groundout to end the inning.

Inciarte led off the game with a home run to right-center, his first of the season. The Braves added three more runs and their four-run first inning was the most they have scored in a frame this season. One run scored on a Nick Markakis fielder's choice thanks to a throwing error by Baez. Brian McCann completed the inning with a two-run single.

Atlanta added a solo home run from Acuna, his first of the season, in the third inning.

The Braves knocked out Hendricks in the fifth inning. After Atlanta loaded the bases, Dansby Swanson singled in a run, and another scored on an error by second baseman Bote to stretch the lead to 7-0.

Ozzie Albies, who was 3-for-4, singled in a run another run in the sixth to make it 8-0.

Albies also preserved the shutout when he made a nice running catch in shallow right field and doubled up Mark Zagunis, who had doubled, to end the game.

The two teams don't play on Tuesday. They complete the three-game series on Wednesday and Thursday.

--Field Level Media

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