ATLANTA — Mauricio Dubón homered for the third straight game and the Atlanta Braves opened another series at Truist Park with a victory, beating the Pittsburgh Pirates 6-3 on Friday night.
The Braves have won the opening game of a home series nine times in 10 tries this season, and with Friday’s victory they improved their MLB-best record to 43-21. Atlanta has an 8 1/2-game lead over the second-place Philadelphia Phillies in the National League East Division.
Dubón was 2-for-4 with three RBIs and two runs. It is the first time in the 31-year-old shortstop’s eight-year MLB career he has homered in three consecutive games. Dubón is in his first season for Atlanta.
Atlanta’s Ronald Acuña Jr. was 2-for-4 with a walk and an RBI, and Matt Olson had two hits and a run.
Braves starter Martín Pérez (4-3) went five innings and gave up three runs before giving way to the bullpen, which blanked MLB’s fourth-highest-scoring lineup in the final four. Raisel Iglesias got his 12th save of the season and lowered his ERA to 0.92 after pitching the ninth inning.