Braves shut down Rangers in dominant series opener

Sometimes a break does the body good. And that’s exactly what the Atlanta Braves have shown in their series opener against the Texas Rangers in a 15-1 win.

Starting off with a Drake Baldwin single to bring in Dominic Smith, the Braves didn’t let up from the bottom of the second inning.

Baldwin would also come back in the bottom of the fourth to feature the play of the night. A three-run homer to drive in Jim Jarvis and Brewer Hicklen would put the Braves up by five runs.

Jarvis knocked in a hit of his own by doubling in the bottom of the fifth to drive in Smith to give the Braves a 7-0 lead. The two took turns driving in another run on the board with a Baldwin single to bring Jarvis in for the eighth run (8-0).

Michael Harris put on a show soon after in the bottom of the seventh, where he hit an RBI double to bring in Baldwin, Ozzie Albies, and Matt Olson for an 11-0 lead.

The Rangers avoided a shutout by getting a run in the top of the eighth inning after a single from Rangers’ Nicky Lopez to drive in Cam Cauley for the team’s first and only run of the night.

Sealing the deal was an RBI single to drive in Hicklen and Jorge Mateo for the final two runs to cap off a run-heavy win where the bats were wide awake.

And for Chris Sale, it comes as no surprise that he pitched through seven innings and only allowed two hits, no earned runs and six strikeouts in his outing. And with the run production on his side, it’s safe to say that both sides did their job well to finish with a win.