Swanson homers twice as Braves beat Cardinals 5-2
ST. LOUIS (AP) - Dansby Swanson homered twice and Freddie Freeman also connected, helping Mike Foltynewicz and the Atlanta Braves beat the St. Louis Cardinals 5-2 on Friday night.
Swanson drove Miles Mikolas' first pitch of the sixth inning over the wall in left, giving Atlanta a 2-1 lead. Freeman then hit his 13th homer, giving Atlanta its third set of back-to-back homers this season.
Swanson and Freeman also hit consecutive homers in the second inning Wednesday night in San Francisco.
Foltynewicz (1-3) allowed an unearned run in six innings in his first win since Sept. 28. The right-hander struck out seven and walked none.
Swanson helped put it away with a two-run drive off Giovanny Gallegos in the eighth for his 10th homer. It was his second career multihomer game.
Mikolas (4-5) matched his career high with nine strikeouts in seven innings. He was charged with three runs and seven hits.
Atlanta grabbed the lead when Brian McCann scored on Ronald Acuña Jr.'s double play in the third. St. Louis tied it in the bottom half.
Kolten Wong reached second on rookie Austin Riley's error. Harrison Bader then tripled to center off Acuña's glove, but he was tagged out after being caught in a rundown between third and home when Foltynewicz cut off the throw to the plate.
RUN PRODUCER
Cardinals slugger Matt Carpenter got his 500th career RBI when he hit a 442-foot home run to right field off Sean Newcomb in the ninth.
BULLPEN-BOUND
The Cardinals announced struggling right-hander Michael Wacha is going to work out of the bullpen. Wacha is 2-2 with a 6.39 ERA in his last five starts.
Wacha last pitched in relief on Sept. 26, 2016, versus Cincinnati.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Braves: OF Matt Joyce was placed on the bereavement list following the death of his uncle. Manager Brian Snitker says Joyce will miss all three games against St. Louis and return for Tuesday's home game against Washington. RHP Kyle Wright was recalled from Triple-A Gwinnett.
Cardinals: RHP Ryan Helsley was optioned to Triple-A Memphis. OF Lane Thomas remains with the club after being recalled to serve as the team's 26th man for Game 2 of Wednesday's split-doubleheader versus Kansas City.
UP NEXT
Braves RHP Mike Soroka (5-1, 1.01 ERA) faces Cardinals RHP Dakota Hudson (3-3, 4.30 ERA) on Saturday night. Soroka allowed three hits in seven scoreless innings in his only previous outing versus St. Louis on May 15.
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