Matt Olson and Michael Harris II each clubbed a pair of home runs as the Atlanta Braves crushed the host Cincinnati Reds 15-3 on Thursday afternoon in the rubber match of a three-game series.
Olson opened the scoring with a second-inning solo shot before his three-run blast put Atlanta (83-70) up 8-1 in the fifth. Harris cleared the right-center-field wall to open the eighth, then cracked a three-run homer an inning later.
Harris finished 3-for-5 with four RBIs and four runs scored.
Ramon Laureano and Jorge Soler also smacked three-run homers for the Braves, who trail the Mets and Diamondbacks by 1 1/2 games in the National League wild-card race. New York and Arizona currently hold the last two wild cards, and both teams were scheduled to play later Thursday.
Atlanta starter Chris Sale (18-3) set a single-season career high by picking up his 18th win. He gave up two runs on five hits in five innings, walking two and striking out six.
Blake Dunn hit his first major league home run as part of a 2-for-3 day for Cincinnati (74-80), which has dropped five of its past eight. Dunn scored three times.
Reds starter Julian Aguiar (2-1) was knocked around in his four-plus innings, allowing seven runs and six hits. He walked two and fanned four.
Laureano helped the Braves pull away in the third, sending a sinker from Aguiar over the wall in right with runners on first and second to make it 4-0.
Cincinnati got a run back in the home half of the frame when Dunn singled, stole second and third and scored on Jonathan India’s base hit.
Harris and Soler were both hit by pitches ahead of Marcell Ozuna’s RBI double to start the fifth. Yosver Zulueta then took over for Aguiar and served up Olson’s three-run homer.
Dunn led off the bottom of the fifth with a solo home run, pulling the Reds within 8-2.
Soler proceeded to put the game well out of reach with his three-run shot in the sixth.
Elly De La Cruz singled home Dunn in the seventh to cut Cincinnati’s deficit to 11-3 before Harris’ late power display.
Atlanta racked up 18 hits to match a season high. De La Cruz had three of the Reds’ 10 hits.
–Field Level Media
