Christian Walker continued his late-inning magic, belting a two-run homer in the seventh inning as the visiting Arizona Diamondbacks completed a three-game sweep of the Atlanta Braves with a 4-1 win on Thursday afternoon.
Walker has six homers, all of them coming in the seventh inning or later. He also hit a ninth-inning blast in the first game of the series. He is batting .619 (13-for-21) with two doubles and 11 RBI in the seventh inning or later.
Walker, who went 6-for-13 in the three-game series with Atlanta, has been starting at first base since Jake Lamb went on the injured list with a left quad strain.
The winning pitcher was Luke Weaver (1-1). He fired five scoreless innings, allowing four hits and one walk. Weaver struck out nine -- one shy of his career best -- and fanned the final five batters he faced.
Yoshihisa Hirano, the fourth Arizona reliever, pitched a scoreless ninth inning to earn his first save as the Diamondbacks extended their winning streak to four games.
Mike Soroka (0-1) took the loss but pitched well in his first start since being recalled from Triple-A Gwinnett. He threw five innings and allowed only one run on four hits and two walks. He struck out six.
Arizona scored in the first inning when Adam Jones grounded into a fielder's choice that scored Wilmer Flores.
Arizona scored three runs in the seventh against reliever Chad Sobotka. After Walker's two-run homer, the Diamondbacks tacked on another run when Tim Locastro walked, stole second and scored on Nick Ahmed's ground-rule double.
Atlanta scored its only run when Freddie Freeman hit a solo homer, his second, in the eighth inning off reliever Matt Andriese.
Freeman was hit by a pitch in the sixth and has reached base in 18 consecutive games. Ronald Acuna Jr. extended his hitting streak to nine games.
Atlanta will travel to Cleveland for a three-game series that begins Friday. The Diamondbacks continue their 10-game road trip with a three-game series in Chicago against the Cubs.
--Field Level Media
Arizona | Atlanta | |
Luke Weaver | Player | Mike Soroka |
Win | W/L | Loss |
5.0 | IP | 5.0 |
9 | Strikeouts | 6 |
4 | Hits | 4 |
0.00 | ERA | 1.80 |
Arizona | Atlanta | |
Wilmer Flores | Player | Johan Camargo |
2 | Hits | 2 |
0 | RBI | 0 |
0 | HR | 0 |
3 | TB | 2 |
.500 | Avg | .500 |