Austin Riley, Kyle Wright lead Braves to a 5-2 win over the Diamondbacks

The Atlanta Braves got their homestand off to a good start Friday night with a 5-2 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Madison Bumgarner has historically been a tough task for the Braves, but Austin Riley is having some kind of July and didn’t waste anytime getting Atlanta on the board with his 29th home run of the season.

The Braves added on in the third. Michael Harris got things started with a one-out walk and then moved up to second on a single off the glove of Ketel Marte’s glove by Ronald Acuña Jr. Dansby Swanson then grounded to Josh Rojas at third who threw wide of second. Harris scored on the play to make it 2-0. Riley struck again with a double to left center to make it 3-0.

Travis d’Arnaud rounded out the inning with a run-scoring single of his own to put Atlanta up 4-0.

While the Braves struck early against Bumgarner, Kyle Wright was dialed in. Wright retired the first six hitters he faced, including three strikeouts. He walked Jake McCarthy to start the third. Carson Kelly then bounced to Orlando Arcia at second on a would be double play but his toss to Swanson was wide which allowed both runners to move up to second and third. Undeterred, Wright struck out Geraldo Perdomo for the first out and then got Rojas to line out to Arcia at second. Alek Thomas grounded out to Matt Olson at first to leave the runners stranded.

Wright retired the first two hitters in the fourth but then walked Peralta. Daulton Varsho and McCarthy hit back-to-back singles to give the Diamondbacks their first run of the game. Perdomo led off the fifth inning with a solo home run to cut Atlanta’s lead to 4-2.

The Braves would get that run back in the fifth as Swanson singled with two outs and then scored all the way from first on another double by Riley.

Wright came back out to start the seventh. McCarthy popped up a bunt for the first out before Carson Kelly reached on a hard hit single off of Riley’s glove at third. Wright struck out Perdomo, but then allowed a single to Rojas. That would be the end of the night as Brain Snitker would summon Dylan Lee who struck out pinch-hitter Jordan Luplow to strand the runners.

It was another excellent outing for Wright who allowed five hits, two runs and struck out five over 6 2/3 innings. He threw 96 pitches with 63 going for strikes.

Collin McHugh worked a perfect eighth and gave way to Kenley Jansen for the ninth. Jansen found himself in immediate trouble as Varsho tripled off the bricks in right to lead off the inning. Jansen then dug in and struck out McCarthy and Kelly for the first two outs. He then walked Perdomo and Rojas to load the bases, but struck out Luplow to end the game.

The series will continue Saturday with Ian Anderson matching up against Corbin Martin.