HOUSTON (AP) Marcell Ozuna hit his major league-leading eighth homer and Orlando Arciaās RBI single in the 10th inning lifted the Atlanta Braves to a 5-4 win over the Houston Astros on Wednesday.
It completes a three-game sweep of the struggling Astros and is Atlantaās fourth straight victory.
The Braves scored two runs in the eighth inning to tie it at 4-4. Michael Harris II started the 10th as the automatic runner on second and there was one out in the inning when Seth Martinez (1-1) intentionally walked Matt Olson.
Ozuna lined out to right field to send Harris to third base. Arcia then singled on a ground ball to left field to score Harris and put the Braves on top.
āHeās got a slow heartbeat,ā manager Brian Snitker said. āI like seeing him in big situations. Even last year he had a lot of big hits. He doesnāt get caught up in all the excitement. He stays calm and slows the game down and allow himself a chance.ā
Arcia has five hits and five RBIs in his past three games combined.
āOzuna was just encouraging and saying letās go,ā Arcia said in Spanish through a translator. āFortunately, I didnāt try to do too much, and it worked out.ā
Pinch-runner Jake Meyers was on second when Kyle Tucker walked with no outs in the 10th. Meyers moved to third on a fly out by Yainer Diaz but Jeremy PeƱa grounded into a double play to end it.
A.J. Minter (3-1) got the last two outs of the ninth for the win and Raisel Iglesias earned his fifth save.
Snitker credited his bullpen for his team's success in this series.
āIf they donāt hold leads and keep us close when we get behind you donāt have an opportunity to do that,ā he said. āThatās the most valuable thing they can do is just kind of keep the game in check and give us a chance and theyāre really good at it.ā
Reigning NL MVP Ronald AcuƱa Jr. added his first homer of the season to help the Braves to the victory. Ozuna also leads the majors with 23 RBIs and he extended his hitting streak to 16 games, which ties his career best and is the longest active streak in the majors.
Yordan Alvarez and Mauricio DubĆ³n both homered for the Astros, who fell to 6-14 and are last in the AL West.
āAs a team we just need to come together and play better and finish games,ā manager Joe Espada said. āWe've just got to play cleaner overall.ā
There was one out in the first when Alvarez connected on his homer to the seats in left field to put Houston up 1-0.
Ozuna opened the second with his 432-foot shot to left field, which bounced off the wall and tied the game.
AcuƱa put the Braves up 2-1 when he sent the first pitch of the fifth inning to straightaway center field.
The Astros tied it on an RBI single by Alex Bregman in the fifth and Kyle Tuckerās RBI double came next to put the Astros up 3-2.
DubĆ³n hit his first home run of the year off Jesse Chavez to start Houstonās sixth and push the lead to 4-2.
Harris singled to start the seventh before a ground-rule double by Austin Riley. Olson reached, and Harris scored on a fielding error by first baseman JosĆ© Abreu when he couldnāt grab a routine ground ball.
There was one out in the inning when Riley scored on a sacrifice fly by Arcia to tie it at 4-all.
Houston starter J.P. France allowed four hits and two runs in five innings.
Max Fried gave up seven hits and three runs in five innings.
UP NEXT
Braves: Atlanta is off Thursday before opening a series against Texas on Friday night with LHP Chris Sale (1-1, 4.58 ERA) on the mound.
Astros: Houston is also off Thursday before ace Justin Verlander will make his season debut Friday night against Washington. The three-time Cy Young Award winner opened the season on the injured list with inflammation in his right shoulder.
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