Working fast and throwing fastballs that the Padres couldn’t handle, right-hander Mike Foltynewicz looked like a pitcher who wouldn’t need much run support to put the Braves in position to win.
That hasn’t been a problem for lately the Braves at Turner Field. They continued their recent offensive surge with a 9-6 victory on Sunday.
The Braves swept their first home series of the season while beating the Padres by a combined score of 24-10. They’ve scored seven runs or more in five consecutive home games for the first time since 1953, tying for the longest such streak in franchise history since at least 1913.
“It doesn’t surprise me at all,” Braves first baseman Freddie Freeman said, smiling. “We’ve been swinging the bats pretty well lately. Obviously it’s not something you think you’ll ever do. That’s a lot of runs to score in five consecutive games.”
Freeman’s two-run homer staked Foltynewicz to a 2-o lead in the third inning. The Braves (51-83) scored five runs in the fifth while chasing Padres starter Jarred Cosart (0-2).
Freeman, the No. 3 hitter, went 1-for-3 with two walks and three RBIs. Lead-off hitter Ender Inciarte was 2-for-4 with a walk, No. 2 hitter Adonis Garcia was 2-for-3 with a walk and two runs scored and clean-up man Matt Kemp was 2-for-5 with two RBIs.
The Braves rank next-to-last in the majors in runs scored but scored the fifth-most runs in the NL in August.
“The big part is Ender at the top of the lineup, that’s been huge,” Freeman said. “Garcia has been huge. And with Matt lengthening our lineup, it’s been kind of steamrolling lately.”
Foltynewicz (8-5) won his fourth straight decision by holding the Padres to three runs over six innings with no walks and three strikeouts. Foltynewicz needed just nine pitches to retire the Padres in order in the first inning and was perfect through three innings with 20 strikes among 29 pitches.
The Padres (55-78) got a solo home run from Hector Sanchez with two outs in the fifth and a two-run homer by Wil Myers in the sixth but not much else against Foltynewicz.
“The mental side is really starting to click for me,” he said. “Nothing I was getting upset out there today when I could have. At the end of the day, it’s (about) attacking the zone and getting guys out and I was able to do that today with just OK stuff.”
Freeman’s homer increased his career-high total to 28 this season. Foltynewicz started the big fifth inning with a one-out single.
Foltynewicz hit a sharp ground ball to shortstop Luis Sardinas and then sprinted once he saw Sardinas fumble the ball a bit.
“I told myself, ‘If you are going to run you might as well beat it out,’” Foltynewicz said. “A couple guys in the dugout said that got them excited, that got them going, and we put some runs up on the board. Sometimes it’s just the little things like that that gets the team going so I was very excited about that.”
Inciarte followed with a walk and Garcia singled to load the bases. Cosart walked Freeman to score a run and then Kemp poked a two-run single through the left side of the infield for a 5-1 lead.
Anthony Recker added to the advantage with a two-out, two-run single against lefty reliever Brad Hand.
