Braves pull away to defeat Red Sox

[September 01, 2020]  Atlanta Braves third baseman Austin Riley broke open a tie game with a bases-loaded triple and propelled left-hander Max Fried to his sixth victory in a 6-3 win over the host Boston Red Sox on Monday.

In the fifth inning with score even at 2-2, Riley greeted reliever Phillips Valdez with a line drive off the low wall in right field, just beyond the Pesky Pole. It was Riley's first triple of the year and extended his hitting streak to five games. He went 2-for-5 on Monday, and he is hitting .421 (8-for-19) in his five-game streak, raising his average to .240.

Fried (6-0) suffered from a high pitch count (93) and left after five innings. He allowed two runs on five hits with two walks and five strikeouts. Fried extended his streak of homerless innings to 58 1/3, the longest in the major leagues. The Braves have won all eight of Fried's starts.
 

Mark Melancon pitched a perfect ninth and earned his seventh save.

The losing pitcher was Colten Brewer (0-3), who worked four-plus innings -- matching his longest stint of the season -- and allowed five runs on eight hits, two walks and four strikeouts.

The Braves scored a run in the first inning when Nick Markakis doubled in Dansby Swanson. It was his 10th double and the 509th of his career, one short of Ricky Henderson at No. 57 on the all-time list. Markakis has doubled in nine of his last 11 starts.

The Red Sox answered with a run in the bottom of the first on an RBI single by Rafael Devers, his fifth consecutive hit, and took a 2-1 lead in the third when Alex Verdugo doubled and scored on a two-out balk by Fried.

Braves left fielder Nick Markakis (22) hits an RBI single during the sixth inning against the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park. / Bob DeChiara-USA TODAY Sports

Atlanta's Adam Duvall tied the game 2-2 with a solo homer, his fifth home run of the season, over the Green Monster.

After the three-run outburst in the fifth, the Braves picked up a run in the sixth on a liner by Markakis that glanced off the glove of second baseman Jonathan Arauz and allowed Swanson to score.

The Red Sox rallied for a run in the eighth against reliever Will Smith on a single by Xander Bogaerts to cut the deficit to 6-3.

-Field Level Media

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