Braves’ bats come to life in 13-6 win over Rockies

Chicken Noodle Soup is Good for the Soul. Hitting in Coors Field is Good for the Batters.

The Braves blew away the Rockies on Thursday night, racking up 18 hits on their way to a 13-6 win over Colorado .

The Rockies actually scored first tonight as it took all of three pitches for a leadoff double and RBI single to get things going. It was all Braves from there, though.

With two outs in the second inning, Guillermo Heredia — making a rare start in right field — tripled off the wall to tie it at 1-1. Michael Harris II then hit one up the middle for an infield RBI single. Following an Acuña walk, Dansby Swanson continued his red-hot hitting with an RBI single to make it 3-1.

Speaking of Michael Harris, the young outfielder continues to showcase his electric speed both in the field and on the base paths. He went 3-for-5 on Thursday evening as he continued his impressive play during his first week in the Majors.

In the third, Travis d’Arnaud smoked a two-run shot down the left field line to push the lead to 5-1. The score remained the same until the fifth when d’Arnaud put an exclamation point on his big night with a grand slam to left to make it 9-1.

The Rockies got to Ian Anderson a bit in the bottom of the fifth as three runs came around to score, topped off by a C.J. Cron homer.

Thankfully, the Braves came right back in the top of the sixth and ended any comeback chance Colorado had. Dansby doubled to plate Acuña, Austin Riley doubled off the right field wall to add another run, and Matt Olson scored Riley with a single to right as he continued his recent stretch of hot hitting with runners on base. 12-4.

Anderson did not pitch particularly well, although being tasked with pitching in Coors Field is an unenviable task. Ian tied a career-best with nine strikeouts over six innings, although he surrendered five runs and 10 hits over 103 pitches. Perhaps most importantly, though, he kept the ball in the strike zone and only walked one batter after being staked to a large lead.

The fun continued in the seventh as Harris II smoked a double to center field and came around to score on an Acuña bloop single. It was that kind of night for the Atlanta bats.

Jesus Cruz, Darren O’Day and Dylan Lee each pitched an inning of relief and allowed just one run to score.

The four-game series continues Friday night as Max Fried (5-2, 3.10 ERA) will look to continue his excellent season as the Rockies send Chad Kuhl (4-2, 3.56 ERA) to the mound. First pitch is set for 8:40 p.m. ET. AppleTV will hold the exclusive broadcast rights.