A sellout crowd filled Turner Field on Friday night and had a grand time watching the Braves do what they’ve done a lot lately – pitch extremely well, manufacture runs without benefit of homers, and win.
They scored four runs in the first two innings and pitcher Ervin Santana was strong into the eighth inning to lead the Braves past the Diamondbacks 5-2 and extend their winning streak to eight games — their longest since a 14-gamer last summer.
“It’s always fun when you’re winning, and when you’re on a streak you just want to keep riding it as long as you can,” said shortstop Andrelton Simmons, among the five Braves who had two hits apiece.
Santana (7-5) won his second consecutive start, allowing six hits and two runs in 7 1/3 innings with one walk and six strikeouts. The first run charged to him scored on a wild pitch, and the second scored after he left the game in the eighth inning. He’s 3-0 with an 1.23 ERA in four career starts against the Diamondbacks.
Craig Kimbrel pitched a perfect ninth inning with one strikeout for his 27th save in 31 opportunities.
“When you come off an off day sometimes you can be a little bit too relaxed,” said Braves first baseman Freddie Freeman, whose first-inning single drove in the first run. “But we came out hot, swinging the bats well, and Magic (Santana) was unbelievable again tonight.”
B.J. Upton extended his hitting streak to 10 games with a leadoff single in the first inning and added a single in the second to give him his first multi-hit game in the streak, which matched the longest of his career.
In the first inning Upton stole second base, advanced on a Simmons sacrifice and scored on Freeman’s hit to put the Braves ahead 1-0, a lead they would never relinquish and an example of their recent improvements at getting a runner on, getting him over and getting him in.
“We drew it up pretty nice there,” said manager Fredi Gonzalez, whose first-place Braves (48-38) are 10 games over .500 for the first time since their 17-7 start. “It was good situational hitting, then we were able to tack on some runs later.”
The Braves have hit just two home runs during their winning streak and none in the past five games. After going 11-25 in their first 36 homerless games, they are 6-0 in homerless games during the winning streak.
“We’re not scoring from the power like we normally do, but we’re just showing you guys we do all kinds of things up here,” Freeman said, smiling. “But it’s definitely good to see, we’re getting a lot of hits and getting a couple of key hits here and there, and it was just enough for (Santana) tonight.”
After sweeping the Phillies and Mets, the Braves opened a three-game series against the Diamondbacks with a win increased their lead to 1 ½ games over the second-place Nationals in the National League East standings.
The crowd of 48,815 was the largest of the season at Turner Field.
Justin Upton doubled after Freeman’s RBI single in the first, and Jason Heyward’s groundout pushed the lead to 2-0.
“It really is contagious,” Gonzalez said. “You see guys playing situational baseball. Jason got an RBI fielder’s choice putting the ball in play middle of the diamond. Those are good things. I always tell the guys they are not all game-winning RBIs. The guys that drive in 100 every year they get them when the defense is giving them to you. Easier said than done, but I like what I see from our offense.”
Longtime former Brave Martin Prado scored after a leadoff single in Diamondbacks’ second inning. He advanced on a pair of groundouts and came home on a wild pitch to cut the lead to 2-1.
The Braves answered with two more runs in the second on four singles and a bases-loaded walk. After consecutive hits by Tommy La Stella and Gerald Laird to start the inning and a failed sac bunt attempt by Santana, B.J. Upton hit a bloop single to load the bases and Simmons singled in a run.
Justin Upton drew a two-out bases-loaded walk against Diamondbacks starter Josh Collmenter to push the lead to 4-1.
Santana has allowed fewer than two runs once in his past 10 starts, when he gave up just one unearned run and six hits against him on June 7 at Arizona. He had given up just one run and four hits through seven innings Friday and retired 11 consecutive batters before giving up a leadoff single to Didi Gregorius in the eighth.
After giving up another hit with one out to put runners on the corners, Luis Avilan replace Santana, who got a standing ovation as he left the field. A fielder’s choice grounder drove in the second Arizona run when Simmons bounced a throw to first base to thwart a potential inning-ending double play.
“Ervin was really, really good,” Gonzalez said. “He mixed his pitches really well especially to a left-handed dominant lineup. I thought he did a nice job mixing his breaking pitch in. It’s a shame he gives up two runs, one on a wild pitch and one on a (throw to first) in the dirt. It’s a tough play, don’t get me wrong — that 3-6-3 is a hard double play to turn. We just couldn’t convert it for him. If not, he might have thrown the shutout today.
Santana had been 1-5 with a 5.96 ERA over a span of eight starts before winning his past two, allowing only four runs in 14 innings of those games Friday and last Saturday at Philadelphia.
