The Braves beat the Giants again in 10 innings, 4-3

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Travis d’Arnaud homered early and had an RBI single in the 10th inning that sent the Atlanta Braves past the San Francisco Giants 4-3 on Tuesday night.

Ramon Laureano also hit deep and Austin Riley singled twice to lead Atlanta to its second straight win over San Francisco in extra innings. The Braves beat the Giants 1-0 in 10 innings on d’Arnaud’s sacrifice fly in the series opener on Monday.

“If we’re going to step up and do something, this is the way it should happen,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “We did a lot of really good things tonight. A good team win.”

Pinch-runner Luke Williams started the 10th inning as the automatic runner at second base. With one out, d’Arnaud hit a ground ball toward the right side of the infield. The ball deflected off second baseman Brett Wisely’s glove and into right field.

“I was just trying to stay short and hit a ball on the ground,” d’Arnaud said. “Luckily, he found a gap and that was it.”

In the bottom of the 10th inning, the Giants attempted to bunt the ball to get their automatic runner to third, but Wisely was flagged for batter interference. LaMonte Wade Jr. and Heliot Ramos each flied out to end the game.

Dylan Lee (4-2) retired three batters for the win and Raisel Iglesias pitched the 10th for his 25th save.

The Braves (63-56) extended their lead to two games over the New York Mets for the final NL wild card. The Giants (61-61) are 3 1/2 games behind.

Tyler Fitzgerald homered for San Francisco, which lost its third straight game after winning eight of 10.

“That’s three games in a row that we’ve lost by one run,” manager Bob Melvin said. “We’ve been pretty good at home and we’ve won close games, so it’s frustrating.”

Trailing 3-2 entering the eighth, the Giants rallied.

Wade doubled off Pierce Johnson leading off the inning before Ramos hit a slow grounder toward third. Riley dropped the ball and then picked it up, but it slipped out of his hand as he attempted to make a throw. Wade later scored the tying run on a wild pitch.

Laureano hit a solo homer in the second inning. San Francisco starter Kyle Harrison also allowed a solo homer to d’Arnaud in the third, his 13th of the season.

Braves veteran Charlie Morton bounced back from his worst start of the season, striking out eight in six innings to reach 2,000 career strikeouts. Morton, who allowed eight runs and a career-high four homers in 2 2/3 innings in his previous start Aug. 8 against Milwaukee, allowed six hits and two runs to San Francisco.

The 40-year-old pitcher enjoyed his milestone after being hampered by hip and elbow surgeries earlier in his career.

“I’m very grateful to be able to have a lot of the experiences I’ve had, considering I wasn’t even sure I’d be given the ball to start with after 2015,” Morton said. “Since (2016) I’ve been a different pitcher and that’s allowed me to pitch into my 40s and have the moments I’ve had.”

Harrison struck out six and allowed three runs in five innings.

TRAINERS ROOM

Braves: Right-hander Reynaldo Lopez (forearm) began a rehab assignment with Triple-A Gwinnett. … Right-hander Jimmy Herget was promoted from Gwinnett. Left-hander Zach Logue was optioned to the minors.

Giants: INF Thairo Estrada (sprained left wrist) went 1-for-3 with an RBI in a rehab game with Triple-A Sacramento but is still a few weeks away from being activated, according to Melvin.

NEXT

Giants left-hander Robbie Ray (2-1, 3.98 ERA) faces Atlanta right-hander Grant Holmes (0-0, 3.79) in the series finale on Wednesday. Holmes has allowed eight runs in his last two outings, matching the eight runs he allowed in his first 11 games of the season.

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