Culberson’s homer the deciding blow in 1-0 win against Padres

Both starters exchanged shaky first innings to get the action underway but were able to recover and neither team could take advantage early on.

After the first inning the teams exchanged more zeros and quick innings than anything else.

Sean Newcomb was spectacular as always and gave the Braves 6 innings of 2 hit shut down baseball by way of seven strikeouts before being forced to leave the game after the sixth inning due to a rain delay which kept him sitting too long.

The Padres starter Jordan Lyles was equally impressive save a stray pitch that ended up in the left-center field seats from Charlie Culberson. Lyles did come back to pitch after the 25 minute rain delay to complete 7 innings of his own with six strikeouts after some really bad play against Atlanta in his recent starts.

Culberson’s home run came in the fifth inning when he deposited a 1-0 pitch from Lyles over the wall in center field that gave Newcomb and the Braves a 1-0 lead.

After Newcomb was forced to exit Dan Winkler was the first man out of the Braves pen and was fun to watch per usual. Winkler pitched a scoreless 7th inning with two strikeouts before then turning things over to A.J. Minter. Minter, not to be outdone by Winkler, struck out two of his own in a spotless eighth before handing the baton to Arodys Vizcaino.

The Padres pen only had to cover one inning in the eighth and Kirby Yates made short work of the Braves in their final opportunity of the day to add on which put some serious pressure on the Atlanta closer to perform.

Vizcaino was forced to face the 2-3-4 hitters in the top of the ninth and began the inning with a three pitch strikeout of Eric Hosmer. Things then got a little bit shady for Vizcaino as he allowed a double to Hunter Renfroe and hit pinch hitter Cory Spangenberg causing Braves fans hearts to beat fast. Vizzy then quelled some fears by striking out Franmil Reyes but things were still tense as Vizcaino was forced to face Freddy Galvis in order to finish the game. Galvis got a questionable strike one call, swung through strike two and eventually hit a slow roller out to short which Dansby was able to get to and gun to first to secure the win.

The Braves will go for the series win tomorrow at 1:35. Stay tuned.