Braves blast 5 HRs to beat Cardinals, end skid

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[September 08, 2023]  Matt Olson homered for the fourth straight game and Ronald Acuna Jr. added a pair of solo home runs to help the Atlanta Braves beat the visiting St. Louis Cardinals 8-5 on Thursday to end a three-game skid and salvage a game from the three-game series.  

 

Olson broke a 3-3 tie in the fifth inning with a 410-foot shot to center field. Olson's league-leading 47th homer leaves him four away from matching the team record set by Andruw Jones in 2005.

Acuna opened the bottom of the first with a home run and added his 34th in the sixth inning. It was Acuna's sixth leadoff home run this year and the 32nd of his career. Acuna has 12 multi-homer games all-time, three this season.

Michael Harris II added a solo homer, his 14th, in the sixth inning and Travis d'Arnaud hit a two-run homer in the seventh, his 11th. The Braves hit 11 homers during the three-game series, 10 of them solo shots.

Atlanta starter Max Fried (7-1) went six innings and allowed three runs on six hits and two walks with four strikeouts.

St. Louis starter Adam Wainwright (3-11) pitched 5 2/3 innings and allowed six runs on eight hits and three walks with four strikeouts. It was his final career appearance against the Braves, the team that selected him in the first round of the 2000 draft.

The Braves scored three times in the first inning to set a franchise record with 129 first-inning runs this season. Acuna opened the game with a solo homer and Eddie Rosario added a two-run single.

The Cardinals tied the game in the second inning. Andrew Knizner was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, and Tommy Edman drove home two runs with a single. Nolan Gorman was originally called out at the plate, but a video review reversed the call.

St. Louis hitting coach Turner Ward was ejected from the game for arguing balls and strikes in the sixth inning.

--Field Level Media

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