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Austin Riley hit a long solo home run in his
second major league at-bat and Mike Soroka fired seven shutout
innings as the rookies led the Atlanta Braves to a 4-0 win over
the visiting St. Louis Cardinals.
Riley, a slugger ranked as the team's top position-player
prospect, hit a 438-foot homer against St. Louis starter Michael
Wacha in his second at-bat. Riley was called up from Triple-A
Gwinnett on Wednesday morning when outfielder Ender Inciarte was
placed on the injured list with a lumbar strain.
Soroka (4-1) allowed three hits and three walks with three
strikeouts. He extended his streak of homer-free innings to 56
1/3 and lowered his ERA to 0.98. Soroka's biggest moment may
have come in the third inning when he was able to get Paul
Goldschmidt to ground into a bases-loaded inning-ending double
play.
Soroka has allowed no more than one earned run in each of his
six starts this season and has allowed one or fewer in nine of
his 11 career starts, something no other pitcher has
accomplished since earned runs became an official statistic in
1913.
The Atlanta bullpen gave the Cardinals some hope in the eighth
inning. Dan Winkler walked the first two batters, but Luke
Jackson entered to get a double play and fanned Marcell Ozuna to
end the threat. Jackson pitched a scoreless ninth and earned his
fifth save.
Wacha (3-1) pitched five solid innings for the Cards. He allowed
two runs -- one earned -- on four hits and four walks. He struck
out four. He was responsible for Atlanta's first run when he
threw wildly to third base after having Ronald Acuna Jr. picked
off between second and third base in the third inning.
Atlanta added some insurance in the eighth inning. Charlie
Culberson, who entered the game in the top of the eight inning
in left field for Riley, hit a two-run homer off former Brave
John Gant.
Atlanta made another roster move, recalling right-handed pitcher
Touki Toussaint from Triple-A Gwinnett and designating
left-hander Jesse Biddle for assignment.
--Field Level Media
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