ATLANTA — Five years after he was the No. 5 overall pick in the MLB draft, Kyle Wright’s comfort on a major league mound is boosting the Atlanta Braves.
The 26-year-old right-hander pitched seven scoreless innings to earn his MLB-leading 17th victory of the season, and Ronald Acuña Jr. and Austin Riley backed him up with home runs as the Braves beat the Colorado Rockies 3-2 on Wednesday night.
Wright broke a tie with Tony Gonsolin of the Los Angeles Dodgers and Justin Verlander of the Houston Astros to take the lead in wins.
“Yeah, it’s pretty cool how quickly it’s turned around,” Wright said. “I had two starts (in the majors) last year, and they were both pretty bad, before I got called back up for the World Series. Just to see the growth I made last year at Triple-A and to continue to build on what I’m working on is definitely exciting doing this. It’s a great feeling, winning.”
The reigning World Series champions avoided what would have been their first four-game losing streak since last Sept. 14-18. Atlanta, which has the National League’s third-best record at 80-51 but is second in the East Division, remained three games behind the New York Mets in the standings.
Facing Colorado for the first time in his career, Wright (17-5) allowed five hits with two walks and six strikeouts, throwing 63 of his 96 pitches for strikes. The former Vanderbilt standout from Huntsville, Alabama, is trying to become the first Braves pitcher to lead the NL in wins since Russ Ortiz had 21 in 2003. Tom Glavine was the most recent Atlanta pitcher to lead the majors in victories with 21 in 2000.
A.J. Minter faced the minimum for the Braves in the eighth, and Kenley Jansen earned his 30th save in 35 chances after facing five batters in a shaky ninth.
Riley’s 32nd homer of 2022, an opposite-field, two-run shot to right-center off Ryan Feltner (2-6), put the Braves up 2-0 in the first. Acuña made it 3-0 with his 11th long ball, an estimated 444-foot blast to center off Feltner that left his bat at 111 mph.
“It always feels good to be on the field, and it feels good to produce, and whenever you can put on a show for the fans, that’s great because you know they deserve it,” Acuña said through a translator.
Acuña, who homered for the first time since Aug. 13 against the host Miami Marlins, went 1-for-4 after returning from missing three games with pain in his surgically repaired right knee.
“It feels terrible, but we’re just going to play through it until the season ends,” he said.
The Braves are 63-29 with him in the lineup and 17-22 without.
Michael Toglia hit his first career homer, a two-run shot off Jansen, to make it 3-2 in the ninth.
“I wasn’t sure because I saw it bounce back in, and I wasn’t positive if it hit the brick or the railing,” Toglia said. “But going around second, I knew and I looked at my family and saw them hugging, and that was more emotional.”
Wright, coming off seven scoreless innings in a 14-2 victory Aug. 24 against the host Pittsburgh Pirates, pitched around a walk in the first before stranding two runners in scoring position in the second when Brian Serven popped up and in the third when José Iglesias flew out. He didn’t allow a runner to advance past first the rest of the way.
The Rockies were attempting to win three straight on the road for the first time this year, their last such stretch of success coming Sept. 12-18, 2021, when they won five in a row. Colorado is 20-43 away from Coors Field this year and has the majors’ worst road winning percentage.
Prior to Atlanta’s four-game sweep June 2-5 at Coors Field, the Rockies had won 30 of 42 games against the Braves. They are 15-5 in Atlanta since the start of 2015 and are 11-3 at Truist Park.
Riley began the night hitting .317 over his previous 88 games, and he has 24 homers and 67 RBIs over that stretch.
“Sometimes there’s no holes in his swing, so you have to mix what you’re doing with him and not show him any patterns,” Feltner said of Riley. “That pitch was on the outer edge of the plate, and he put a really good swing on it. Tip of the cap to him for that.”
Wright improved to 11-2 with a 2.82 ERA in 15 starts at Truist Park this year. He has won four straight starts and eight of nine overall.
Feltner allowed three runs and five hits in 5 2/3 innings. He began the game 0-2 with a 19.06 ERA in two career starts against Atlanta and dropped to 0-4 with a 5.97 ERA in eight road games this season.
With two outs in bottom of the first and Atlanta up 2-0, William Contreras tried to score from first on Michael Harris II’s double into the right-field corner but was tagged out on Brendan Rodgers’ relay throw to the plate.
Rockies center fielder Randal Grichuk laid out on a running dive to his left to catch Acuña’s liner for the first out of the third.
Atlanta second baseman Ozzie Albies will begin a rehab assignment on Thursday. He’s been sidelined since June 14 with a broken left foot.
The Braves returned right-hander Darren O’Day and catcher Chadwick Tromp from rehab assignments after both were reinjured Tuesday. O’Day has a sprained right big toe and Tromp has an injured left quadriceps.
The teams wrap up their three-game series Thursday, when both are scheduled to right-handers as Spencer Strider (8-4, 2.87 ERA) goes for the Braves and Chad Kuhl (6-7, 5.17) gets the ball for the Rockies.