Charlie Morton combined with three relievers on a five-hitter and the Atlanta Braves beat Nathan Eovaldi and the Texas Rangers 5-2 on Saturday night for their sixth straight win. Travis d’Arnaud, who drove in six runs with three homers, including a grand slam, in the Braves’ 8-3 win on Friday night, hit a two-run homer off right-hander Austin Pruitt in the eighth. Led by strong starts from Morton and Chris Sale, the NL East-leading Braves have won the first two games of the weekend series against the Rangers, who lead the AL West.
Garrett Crochet pitched seven sparkling innings, pinch-hitter Paul DeJong had a tiebreaking homer and the Chicago White Sox got their first win by beating the Atlanta Braves 3-2 on Tuesday night. “Huge team win,” Crochet said. Michael Kopech needed five outs and 39 pitches for his first professional save.
The Atlanta Braves have agreements their last arbitration-eligible players by striking deals with left-hander Max Fried and A.J. Minter. The Braves announced Thursday signing one-year deals with Fried for $15 million and Minter for $6.22 million. Fried, 29, is 62-26 with a 3.03 ERA in seven seasons with Atlanta.