Alfaro, Marlins snap the Braves’ 4-game winning streak

Published 1:48 am Sunday, April 7, 2019

ATLANTA (AP) — Jorge Alfaro homered twice, including a tiebreaking, two-run shot in the ninth inning, and the Miami Marlins stopped the Atlanta Braves’ four-game winning streak with a 4-2 victory Saturday night.

Alfaro, a right-handed hitter, homered to the opposite field on both swings. His first long ball came off Braves starter Kyle Wright and the second one off reliever A.J. Minter (0-1).

Sergio Romo (1-0) faced the minimum in the eighth, getting knocked down on Josh Donaldson’s pinch-hit liner but scrambling to throw him out, and retired Ozzie Albies on a fly ball in the ninth.

Adam Conley got two outs to earn his first save. He gave up a single to Freddie Freeman before striking out Ronald Acuna Jr. and working out of a bases-loaded jam on pinch-hitter Charlie Culberson’s popup.

The Braves, who went 1 for 13 with runners in scoring position, led 1-0 in the first after Freeman’s RBI double. Atlanta went up 2-0 in the fourth on Dansby Swanson’s RBI single. Miami tied it in the fifth on homers by Alfaro and Peter O’Brien.

Wright gave up five hits, two runs and one walk in six innings. He struck out four.

Marlins starter Sandy Alcantara allowed four hits and two runs in four innings. After walking none in a win against Colorado, the young right-hander issued five free passes in 93 pitches. He had no strikeouts after whiffing six in his season debut.

The Marlins had dropped nine straight at SunTrust Park. They improved to 5-16 at the Braves’ third-year home.

•••

TRAINER’S ROOM

Braves: C Brian McCann left in the fourth with a right hamstring strain after a slide into third. … Manager Brian Snitker gave Donaldson a scheduled day off at third base. Injuries limited Donaldson, the 2015 AL MVP, to 113 games in 2017 and 52 last season. “We’re going to give him a break here and there,” Snitker said. “With this long stretch, I’m going to give a few guys a day off next week, but it was just more of today or tomorrow. He can get a left-handed matchup tomorrow.” … Acuna and Nick Markakis left six runners on. Albies left five.

•••

SMOOTH GLOVE

Swanson made two impressive plays at shortstop. He caught a liner and threw out Alfaro, who was leading too far off first, to end the second. Swanson ended the third by catching a ball on a short hop that glanced off Wright and throwing out Curtis Granderson.

•••

MOVING AROUND

Snitker said Johan Camargo, in the lineup for Donaldson, will start again Sunday. Camargo, who went 0 for 3 with two walks, was the everyday third baseman last year and hit. .272 with 19 homers and 76 RBIs in 134 games, but was moved to a jack-of-all-trades role after Donaldson signed a one-year deal. Camargo, a switch-hitter, started in left field Wednesday against the Chicago Cubs.

PADRES 6, CARDS 4

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Austin Hedges and Manny Machado each hit a two-run homer off Andrew Miller in the eighth inning, helping the San Diego Padres beat the St. Louis Cardinals 6-4 on Saturday for their third consecutive win.

ANGELS 5, RANGERS 1

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Mike Trout hit a grand slam for his fourth homer in three days, and Los Angeles beat Texas for its first back-to-back victories of the season.

Trout’s 458-foot blast in the fourth inning off Drew Smyly (0-1) cleared the bullpens beyond the left field fence at Angel Stadium. After homering in the Halos’ home opener Thursday and adding two more Friday, Trout delivered the biggest blow yet with his fifth career grand slam, his first since 2015.

METS 6, NATIONALS 5

NEW YORK (AP) — Rookie Pete Alonso and Robinson Cano opened the eighth with consecutive homers, helping the Mets rally for the win.

Keon Broxton put New York ahead to stay with a two-out RBI single off Tony Sipp (0-1). Unlikely cleanup man J.D. Davis went deep twice and Michael Conforto also connected as the Mets improved to 6-2.

TWINS 6, PHILLIES 2

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Max Kepler and Willians Astudillo hit consecutive homers, Eddie Rosario hit a three-run shot and Minnesota beat Philadelphia.

MARINERS 9, CHISOX 2

CHICAGO (AP) — Jay Bruce hit two solo homers and Tim Beckham connected for a three-run shot, powering Seattle to the victory.

Mike Leake (2-0) pitched 6 1/3 innings of two-run ball as the Mariners rebounded from a sloppy 10-8 loss in Chicago’s home opener.

TIGERS 7, ROYALS 4

DETROIT (AP) — Christin Stewart hit a two-out grand slam in the seventh inning, lifting Detroit to the win.

The Tigers trailed 4-2 in the seventh but rallied against Kansas City’s struggling bullpen. Kevin McCarthy (0-1) allowed three hits and a hit batter.

PIRATES 6, REDS 5, 10 INNINGS

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Kevin Newman hit a game-ending double in the 10th inning, lifting Pittsburgh to its third straight win.

With one out in the 10th, Francisco Cervelli singled off Raisel Iglesias (0-2). Newman drove the first pitch he saw to the 410-foot left-center notch at PNC Park, and Cervelli easily beat the relay home.

It was the first game-ending hit of Newman’s career.

Pittsburgh’s Francisco Liriano (1-0) struck out two in the top half of the inning.

Cincinnati star Joey Votto tied it in the eighth with his first home run of the year, a solo shot off Keone Kela. It was Kela’s second blown save in five appearances.

GIANTS 6, RAYS 4

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Brandon Belt homered and drove in three before an unusually small home crowd, and San Francisco beat Tampa Bay.

Steven Duggar had three RBIs and Joe Panik scored twice to help San Francisco snap a three-game losing streak behind a breakout day from its offense. Belt had an RBI single in the third and hit a two-run, opposite-field home run off Ryan Yarbrough (1-1) as part of a four-run fifth.

The game drew 31,828, the smallest at Oracle Park since Sept. 1, 2010. The Giants set an NL record with 530 consecutive sellouts at their waterfront ballpark from 2010-17.

Travis Bergen (1-0) retired one batter in relief of starter Jeff Samardzija to earn his first career victory. Will Smith pitched the ninth for his third save.

___

More AP MLB: https://apnews.com/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports