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| Reuters |
Ronald Acuna Jr. and Austin Riley homered in the first inning, and the Atlanta Braves defeated the host Washington Nationals 9-6 to move closer to the 100-win mark Friday night.
Marcell Ozuna smashed a three-run homer in the seventh, and Riley drove in runs on three separate plate appearances to finish with four runs batted in for the National League East champion Braves (99-55).
Acuna led off the game with his 40th home run of the season. He became just the fifth player to join the 40-40 club with his 68 steals. He's the only player in MLB history to have 40 or more home runs and 60 or more steals in the same year. Two batters after Acuna, Riley's 37th homer gave Atlanta a 3-0 lead before an out was recorded.
Braves starter Charlie Morton was done after one scoreless inning; the right-hander walked two. He departed because of discomfort in his right index finger, according to information from the team. Michael Tonkin (7-2) was the winning pitcher with two innings of relief.
After the game, the Nationals announced that Saturday's game was postponed due to severe weather in the forecast and would be played as part of a split-admission doubleheader on Sunday.
