In a playoff-like atmosphere at T-Mobile Park on Friday night, the Braves rode four home runs and a strong performance to a 6-4 victory over Robbie Ray and the Mariners.
With the win, the Braves moved a half-game ahead of New York in the NL East race.
The Braves struck quickly in the first as Ronald Acuna singled and Dansby Swanson took a 2-0 lead. After a bit of a cool summer, it looks like Dansby is heating up again for the final month of the regular season.
Seattle tied things up in the bottom of the second with a two-run shot of its own courtesy of Carlos Santana. The ball was flying all night at T-Mobile Park.
In the fourth, Michael Harris II extended his hitting streak to 15 games with a quick double outside the box. He came around to score on a Robbie Grossman single. Grossman continues to do his job, especially against left-handed pitching.
The Braves made it 4-2 in the fifth when Travis d’Arnaud lined a 3-1 fastball over the right-center wall. Seattle answered in the bottom half with a two-out, two-strike homer by JP Crawford, who smoked a hanging curve from Charlie Morton.
The home run barrage continued for Atlanta in the sixth as they came into the Seattle bullpen. Michael Harris went to the opposite field for a leadoff long ball as his wizarding campaign continued.
Two batters later, Grossman hit his third hit of the night with a solo shot of his own to make it 6-3.
Morton was good overall, but the long ball is hurting him. He has surrendered 24 homers this season, six more than he had ever surrendered before. He gave up just six hits in total, but half went to the wall. He walked two and struck out five. Morton’s ERA for the season sits at 4.08.
The bullpen trio of A.J. Minter, Raisel Iglesias and Kenley Jansen led him to the victory.
The Braves are 87-51. The Mets lost to the Marlins (again) on Friday evening, giving Atlanta a half-game lead in the division for the first time all year.
The series continues Saturday night and the pitching matchup should be colorful with Max Fried facing off against George Kirby who has a strong 3.15 ERA / 3.06 FIP / 3.25 xFIP over 20 years this season. Kirby will be the first right-handed pitcher the Braves have seen since last weekend. First pitch is set for 9:10 p.m. ET.
