Baldwin drives in six in Braves win over Giants

“It’s cool to even be close to that record,” Baldwin said. “I was trying that last at-bat, but it didn’t work out.”

Three of Baldwin’s six RBIs came in the Braves’ five-run first inning. Atlanta never looked back from there, tacking on three more in the fourth and another in the sixth.

Baldwin has been splitting the time behind the plate with veteran catcher Sean Murphy, who was wearing a “Drake rakes” shirt in the clubhouse after the game. The Braves have recently shifted to having one half of the Baldwin-Murphy duo serve as the DH when the other is a battery mate.

That platoon has paid some offensive dividends for the Braves on days when Braves manager Brian Snitker has rolled out that lineup.

“Just more at-bats, you get just more comfortable, you see the ball more, you don’t have to, like, readjust when you get back in the game or playing every other day,” Baldwin said of playing every day, whether he’s catching or not. “I think any baseball player will say that, the more at-bats you get the more comfortable you get in the box for that stretch of time.”

Ronald Acuña Jr. was 1-for-2 in the win with three walks, and he scored three runs, twice from first.

The Braves (44-55) trailed at the outset, but only briefly.

Starter Bryce Elder’s first inning was a rocky one, and the Braves found themselves in a 1-0 hole after Matt Chapman’s hard-hit RBI single down the line to third. Nacho Alvarez Jr. was only able to knock the ball down to keep it from rolling into the corner for further damage.

But Elder was bailed out in the bottom of the inning by his Giants counterpart Hayden Birdsong, who walked the bases loaded before Baldwin split the gap in right for a three-run double.

“It’s been incredible and I think everyone’s seen it, y’all have seen it and, like we say, (Baldwin’s) a horse,” Acuña said through team interpreter Franco Garcia

Birdsong (4-4) issued another walk and then nearly put one in Murphy’s left ear to load the bases again for Alvarez. That spelled the end of a very short evening for Birdsong.

Matt Gage was called upon out of San Francisco’s bullpen and got a pair of strikeouts. Nick Allen then fell behind 0-2 but hung tough and bounced a ball to third that hopped past Chapman’s glove and into left field for a two-run single. The two RBIs for Allen matched a season high.

Baldwin came through again in the fourth with a two-out chopper up the middle that scored Matt Olson from second and Acuña from first, who ran right past third base coach Fredi Gonzalez’s stop sign at third. Acuña ran the 270 feet in 10.03 seconds.

“My objective every time I get on base is to find a way to score no matter what,” Acuña said. “And, right away, when I stepped on second, I was looking out at the outfield, and I noticed that the center fielder was kind of far back. By that point, I knew already that I was gonna go for it.”

Ozzie Albies scored Baldwin from second by lobbing a single into shallow center, making it 8-2 in the fourth.

Elder (4-6) allowed a second run on a Patrick Bailey sacrifice fly in the second inning and a third run on Willy Adames’ RBI double (that Jurickson Profar lost in the lights in left) in the fifth. Elder’s season-high 108th pitch with two outs in the sixth was popped to shortstop.

The righty battled through three walks and eight hits. He struck out just one hitter and forced only five swings and misses.

“Obviously, a little shaky there for a little bit, just kind of the command of it,” Elder assessed his outing. “Just didn’t think my stuff was very good — I don’t know if it was the 12 days off or what — but was very pleased to get through five (innings) there. And thanks to the offense for scoring runs.”

Rafael Montero gave up a solo homer to Adames in the seventh. Enyel De Los Santos allowed a two-out double to Adames and an RBI single to Chapman in the ninth.

The Giants (52-49) could get no closer as they dropped their sixth straight.