Eli White hit a pair of home runs to help the Atlanta Braves beat the Cincinnati Reds 4-2 in the Speedway Classic held at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway on Sunday before an MLB-record crowd of 91,032.
It was the completion of a game that began Saturday and suspended in the bottom of the first inning. There were no weather issues on Sunday as the teams completed the first major league game conducted in Tennessee.
White connected on a three-run shot in the fifth inning off Brent Suter and added a solo homer in the seventh off Scott Barlow, giving him six for the season. It was the second multi-home run game of White’s career.
The winning pitcher was Hurston Waldrep, who was recalled from Triple-A Gwinnett. He took over from Austin Cox, who was the opener on Saturday and allowed three hits and a run in one third of an inning before the game was suspended.
Waldrep (1-0) worked 5 2/3 innings and allowed one run on three hits, two walks and four strikeouts in his first major-league appearance of the season.
Raisel Iglesias worked around a pair of leadoff singles by TJ Friedl and Matt McLain in the ninth to earn his 14th save.
The Reds started Chase Burns, who struck out two of the three batters he faced on Saturday, then replaced him with Suter (1-2) when the game resumed. Suter worked 2 2/3 innings and allowed three runs on four hits with two strikeouts.
The Reds scored a run in the first when Austin Hays had an RBI single and in the third on McLain’s sacrifice fly to center field, which cut Atlanta’s lead to 3-2.
The Reds loaded the bases in the eighth but Ke’Bryan Hayes grounded into an inning-ending force out. Cincinnati was 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position and left 12 runners on base.
Atlanta third baseman Austin Riley left the game in the third inning with lower right abdominal pain, the same problem that landed him on the injured list from July 12-25.
Atlanta completed a 3-6 road trip and won its first series since July 11-12 at St. Louis.
–Field Level Media
