PHOENIX — A duel in the desert went the way of the Braves on Friday at Chase Field thanks to a pair of ninth-inning homers and more superb pitching that fueled them to a 2-0 win over the Diamondbacks.
Ozzie Albies and Matt Olson hit back-to-back jacks to give the Braves a 2-0 lead in what would be their final at-bat. Diamondbacks reliever Paul Sewald (0-1) came into a scoreless game, and the second pitch he threw to Albies was yanked down the right field line and into the seats, making it 1-0.
Two pitches later, Olson crushed a fastball 426 feet out to left.
Braves closer Raisel Iglesias (S, 1) pitched a perfect ninth to preserve the victory.
The shutout victory was the third of the Braves’ season, and they now have a run differential of +29 through eight games.
Braves starter Grant Holmes carried a no-hitter into the sixth and left before the start of the seventh. He allowed only one hit, walked three and struck out four after 85 pitches. Holmes induces 14 whiffs, mostly with his sharp slider.
Holmes also avoided serious injury on the final out of the third inning. D-backs second baseman Ketel Marte hit Holmes’ 1-1 slider 102.7 mph right back at Holmes, who caught the ball with his glove just under his right arm.
D-backs starter Eduardo Rodriguez was equally impressive, shutting out the Braves over seven innings while working around four hits and only one walk. Rodriguez threw 37 change-ups, and the Braves only managed five hard-hit balls off the veteran lefty.
The Braves (6-2) finally got something going against Rodriguez in the sixth thanks to a Ronald Acuña Jr. opposite-field single (Acuña had been 4-for-26 before the at-bat). Acuña stole second, and after a pop-up, went to third on Ozzie Albies’ infield single off the glove of Rodriguez.
But Rodriguez struck out Matt Olson on a check swing, and Austin Riley weakly rolled a change-up to shortstop to end the threat.
Holmes had only allowed two walks through the fifth inning and was one out into the sixth when Marte lined a single into left field to break up the no-hitter. After his third walk of the game but two on with one out, Holmes got a 4-6-3, inning-ending double play.
Dylan Lee filed away a scoreless seventh, working around a two-out single, and Robert Suarez (1-0) pitched a 1-2-3 eighth to preserve the shutout before Iglesias slammed the door on the D-backs (3-5) who were wearing their “Serpientes” alternate jerseys.
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