Homer-happy Braves power past Padres in series finale

Four Braves hit home runs, and Chris Sale earned his 11th victory when Atlanta took a 6-5 win against the visiting San Diego Padres on Thursday afternoon.

Michael Harris II, Ozzie Albies, Dominic Smith and Drake Baldwin each went deep for the Braves, who won the series 3-1. Atlanta is 5-2 since the All-Star break and has scored at least five runs in 11 of its past 13 home games.

Sale (11-6) pitched six innings and allowed three runs on five hits and one walk. He matched his season high with 11 strikeouts and improved his career record against the Padres to 5-0.

Raisel Iglesias pitched the ninth to earn his 21st save. He gave up a pair of two-out singles but came back to strike out Luis Rengifo to end the game.

Griffin Canning (1-9) took his fourth consecutive loss. He pitched 2 2/3 innings and allowed five runs (four earned) on five hits with four strikeouts.

The Padres jumped on Sale for three runs in the second, ending his scoreless streak at 11 innings. Fernando Tatis Jr. drew a bases-loaded walk, a plate appearance kept alive by a successful ABS challenge that reversed a strike. Rengifo followed with a two-run single.

With the Braves using a heavy left-handed lineup at the top of the order, San Diego opted to use southpaw Kyle Hart as an opener. He retired the Braves in order in the first and gave way to Canning, the scheduled starter.

The strategy backfired when Harris hit the second pitch from Canning for a solo homer, his 19th of the season. The 420-foot shot settled deep into the right-field stands.

The Braves went deep twice more off Canning in the fourth. Albies added a solo shot, his 16th home run of the year, and Smith launched a three-run shot, his seventh homer.

Atlanta got another solo homer from Baldwin, his 19th, in the seventh inning against reliever Matt Waldron.

The Padres cut the lead to 6-5 in the eighth when Ty France hit his 16th home run of the season, a two-run shot, against reliever Tyler Kinley. It was the fifth home run for France since the All-Star break.

--Field Level Media