Swanson homers twice as Braves drop Cardinals

[May 25, 2019]    Atlanta shortstop Dansby Swanson hit two home runs, and the Braves beat the St. Louis Cardinals 5-2 on Friday for their eighth win in 10 games.

Cardinals starting pitcher Miles Mikolas (39) pitches during the first inning against the Atlanta Braves at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports

Swanson launched a solo homer in the sixth inning, part of back-to-back home runs with Freddie Freeman. He added a two-run shot to dead center field in the eighth, giving him 10 homers this season and three over his past three games.

The two-homer game was Swanson's first since August 2018 at Pittsburgh.

The consecutive homers by Freeman and Swanson marked the second time in three days the Braves have gone back-to-back.

The offense benefited Atlanta starter Mike Foltynewicz (1-3), who logged his second straight quality start. The right-hander worked six-plus innings and allowed one unearned run on five hits. He didn't walk a batter and struck out seven.

Foltynewicz improved his career record against St. Louis to 3-4 and earned a measure of revenge for giving up eight runs in his last appearance against the Cardinals.

Foltynewicz exited after allowing singles to the first two batters in the seventh inning. But Jerry Blevins retired one batter and Dan Winkler got the final two outs to kill the rally. Anthony Swarzak pitched a scoreless eighth.

Matt Carpenter hit his seventh homer in the ninth inning for St. Louis against Sean Newcomb to complete the scoring. Newcomb struck out two batters in his lone inning.

St. Louis starter Miles Mikolas (4-5) pitched seven good innings. He allowed three runs on seven hits -- two of them home runs -- and struck out nine without issuing a walk.

Swanson hit his second homer against Giovanny Gallegos, who had not allowed a hit over his past four appearances.

The Braves scored a run in the third inning when Ronald Acuna Jr. grounded into a double play with the bases loaded.

The Cardinals got the run back in the bottom of the third when Harrison Bader tripled, scoring Kolten Wong. Wong reached after a miscommunication between center fielder Acuna and left fielder Austin Riley, who was charged with an error.

--Field Level Media

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