Jason Heyward Homers as Atlanta Beats Houston 6-3

After losing four straight, the Braves won their second straight game tonight 6-3 and took the series against the Astros.

Again, Houston got the scoring going first. With two outs in the first, J.D. Martinez launched a solo homer to center to give Houston an early 1-0 lead off starter Randall Delgado.

Atlanta quickly tied things up in the top of the second. Dan Uggla singled to lead off the inning, and advanced to second on a wild pitch from Astros starter Wandy Rodriguez. Jason Heyward followed with a single up the middle, scoring Heyward and knotting the score at 1.

Chipper Jones singled to start things off in the fourth, and advanced to second on an error by Astros shortstop Marwin Gonzalez that allowed Dan Uggla to reach. Heyward singled for the second time in the game, loading the bases for David Ross. Ross doubled deep to center, scoring Chipper and Uggla to make it 3-1.

With Jack Wilson up, Fredi Gonzalez called for the suicide squeeze, which Wilson executed successfully to score Heyward and make it a 4-1 game. Fredi called for the squeeze again with Delgado up to bat, but he fouled it off. The inning ended with Freddie Freeman striking out with the bases loaded.

Houston added a run back in the fifth against Delgado. Jordan Schafer singled with one out, and advanced to second on a wild pitch. After advancing to third on a single from Altuve, Schafer scored to make it a 4-2 game.

It’s also worth noting that David Ross made a crazy good throw in the inning to second base to pick off Altuve.

Delgado left after the fifth, finishing with a line of 5 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, and 6 K’s.

The rest after the jump.

After a scoreless sixth inning from Cristhian Martinez, Eric O’Flaherty got into some trouble in the seventh. A walk and two singles loaded the bases for Carlos Lee with two outs. O’Flaherty then walked him, bringing in a run to make it a 4-3 game.

In search of an insurance run in the eighth, Atlanta got one from Heyward. He deposited a Fernando Rodriguez changeup into the right field stands for a solo home run that made it a 5-3 game in favor of Atlanta.

The Braves added another insurance run in the ninth. Chipper singled to center, and the Astros had a hard time fielding it, allowing Prado to come all the way in from second to make it 6-3.

Jonny Venters pitched a scoreless eighth and Craig Kimbrel brought the tying run to the plate in the ninth, but recorded his second save in two nights.