Atlanta Braves’ Ronald Acuna Jr. celebrates after hitting a solo home run against the San Francisco Giants during the first inning of a baseball game in San Francisco, Monday, May 20, 2019. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) – Mike Soroka carried a perfect game into the sixth inning, Ronald Acuña Jr. homered twice and the Atlanta Braves beat the San Francisco Giants 4-1 Monday night.
Austin Riley also homered for the Braves, who won the opener of a seven-game trip and have won eight of 11.
Soroka (5-1) struck out seven and allowed one run and two hits in eight innings. The right-hander has allowed one earned run or fewer in all seven starts this season. His ERA rose from 0.98 to 1.01. The 21-year-old Braves rookie retired the first 15 batters with relative ease before Brandon Crawford led off the sixth inning by hitting the first pitch to straightaway center field for a homer. It was the first home run allowed by Soroka since he made his major league debut on May 1, 2018, a streak of 61 1/3 innings.
Atlanta second baseman Ozzie Albies helped preserve Soroka’s gem, making a running catch with his back to the infield on a fly ball to short center field by Kevin Pillar that ended the fifth inning.
Sean Newcomb retired three batters for his first major league save.