Eddie Rosario comes up clutch for Braves in 6-5 win over Giants

Eddie Rosario’s two-run home run in the eighth inning was the difference for the Atlanta Braves in a 6-5 win over the San Francisco Giants.

Yonny Chirinos’ night got off to a rough start as Lamonte Wade Jr. jumped on the first pitch of the game for a leadoff home run to give them an early 1-0 lead.

The Giants would strike again in the second as J.D. Davis led off the inning with a double. He moved to third on a single by Blake Sabol and then scored on a ground out by Johan Camargo to push the deficit to 2-0.

The Braves answered back in the second though as Matt Olson and Marcell Ozuna got things going with back-to-back singles, Eddie Rosario followed with a double that scored Olson to cut the lead to 2-1.

The Braves added another run on a ground out by Orlando Arcia and headed to the third with the game tied 2-2.

San Francisco would again regain the lead in the fourth as Joc Pederson and Michael Conforto led off the inning with two straight singles to put runners at first and third with no one out. J.D. Davis followed with a sacrifice fly to right to put the Giants back in front. Blake Sabol flew out for the second out, but Chirinos walked Johan Camargo to put runners at first and second. Thairo Estrada then delivered a single just out of the reach of Arcia at short that scored Conforto to push the lead to 4-2.

The Braves got one of those runs back in the fourth as Rosario singled with one out and then came all the way around to score on a double by d’Arnaud.

Chirinos would exit after the fourth having allowed seven hits and four runs over four innings. He finished the night with one walk and four strikeouts while throwing 77 pitches.

Brad Hand entered in the fifth and retired the side in order. Ronald Acuña Jr. tied things back up to start the fifth with a solo shot to the Chophouse in right.

The see-saw continued in the sixth as Conforto singled off Hand to start the inning. Hand was then replaced by Pierce Johnson who allowed back-to-back singles to Davis and Sabol to load the bases. Johnson then got Camargo to hit into a 6-4-3 double play that was upheld after the Giants challenged. Conforto scored on the play to give the Giants back the lead 5-4. Johnson struck out Estrada to end the inning with no further damage.

The Braves got singles by Ozuna and Rosario to start the sixth, but d’Arnaud struck out before Arcia grounded into an inning-ending double play.

A.J. Minter replaced Johnson in the seventh and allowed a lead off single to Wade who hurt himself on the play and was replaced by pinch-runner Casey Schmitt. Minter struck out pinch-hitter Austin Slater and then got Wilmer Flores to ground into a 5-4-3 double play to end the inning.

Kirby Yates entered in the eighth and walked Joc Pederson to start the inning, but then retired the next three hitters in a row, including a pair of strikeouts of Davis and Sabol.

Tyler Rogers retired the first two hitters in the eighth, but then allowed a single to Ozuna. That would set the stage for Rosario who blasted a home run to center to put Atlanta back in front 6-5.

Raisel Iglesias entered and made quick work of the Giants in the ninth to nail down the win.

Rosario had four hits in the game including the go-ahead homer. Ozuna finished with three hits and extended his hitting streak to 16-straight games. Acuña’s home run was his 28th of the season. He is just two away from becoming just the third player with at least 30 home runs and 50 stolen bases in a season.

With the win, the Braves pick up their 80th win of the season and maintain their 13.5 game lead in the division. They will go for a sweep on Sunday with Max Fried on the mound.