CHICAGO (AP) – Ozzie Albies and Ronald Acuña Jr. homered, Max Fried pitched six innings of two-hit ball and the Atlanta Braves beat the Chicago Cubs 3-2 Tuesday night.
Acuña crushed the first pitch of the game from Cubs rookie Adbert Alzolay into the left-field bleachers for his 19th homer of the season. Albies hit a towering two-run shot to right center off Mike Montgomery (1-2) in the seventh that gave Atlanta the lead.
Fried (9-3) got the win in the second of a four-game set between the NL division leaders. The 25-year-old left-hander struck out eight, walked a season-high five and allowed two runs in winning his second straight start.
Relievers Sean Newcomb, Anthony Swarzak and Luke Jackson, who threw a perfect ninth for his 12th save, combined to complete the four-hitter. Newcomb pitched one-plus inning in his first game since being hit in the head by a line drive 10 days ago.
Willson Contreras had two RBIs and fellow Venezuelan Alzolay tossed one-hit, one-run ball through 4 2/3 innings in his first major league start.