Kurt Suzuki hit two of the Braves’ four homers and drove in three runs, lifting the Braves to an 8-3 win over the D-backs on Tuesday night at Chase Field.
Suzuki’s first homer, a two-run shot in the seventh inning off reliever J.J. Hoover (1-1), broke a 2-2 tie. The veteran catcher added his 10th home run of the season in the eighth. Johan Camargo followed with another homer to give the Braves more insurance.
“It’s always nice helping the team win,” said Suzuki, who has tallied two of his four career multi-homer games this month. “It was a good team win. [Mike] Foltynewicz pitched great, and we had good at-bats up and down the lineup. It was a much-needed win against a good team.”
Foltynewicz (9-5) allowed a pair of runs over six innings, striking out nine. The Braves have won 12 of the past 14 games he has started, including each of the past nine.
“He’s growing up,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said of Foltynewicz, who has a 2.95 ERA over his past seven starts. “He’s figured some of this out. That’s not to say he’s not going to have a bad outing every now and then. He’s just trusting his stuff. The upside on this kid is really, really good.”
D-backs starter Taijuan Walker took a no-decision, allowing two runs (one earned) in six innings. He also contributed to the offense with his first career homer, a solo shot in the fifth.
“Things kind of unraveled on us in that seventh inning, unfortunately,” D-backs manager Torey Lovullo said. “I thought before that we got a very well-pitched game from Taijuan — six strong innings, got nicked up here and there, but for the most part, was executing a great game plan.”
The D-backs tied it at 2 in the sixth when J.D. Martinez beat out an infield single and Chris Owings drove him in with a double. One out later, Brandon Drury was hit by a pitch, and it looked like the D-backs might have a chance to break the game open. However, Foltynewicz concluded an 11-pitch battle against pinch-hitter Ketel Marte with an elusive slider. He ended his 119-pitch night by registering 99 mph twice while recording a threat-ending strikeout of David Peralta.
“It was a good battle [against Marte],” Foltynewicz said. “I left quite a few pitches over the plate, and he just seemed to miss them. He was ready for the fastball most of the time, and then I threw a pretty good slider. I knew it was going to be a strike. I just wanted him to put it in play, and he swung right over it. … It was a very long and stressful inning.”
With the bases loaded and two outs in the seventh, D-backs reliever Andrew Chafin uncorked a pitch in the dirt that catcher Chris Iannetta blocked nicely. Iannetta tried to catch Sean Rodriguez straying too far off third on the play, but the throw got by Jake Lamb and into left field, allowing two runs to score and giving the Braves a 6-2 lead.
“I think the big moment in this game was the transition from the sixth to the seventh,” Lovullo said. “We made a little bit of noise, looked like we were going to break the game open and their starter, Foltynewicz, stood on his stuff, got through the inning and gave his team a boost. And obviously the breakdown in a couple of areas hurt us in the top of the seventh inning.”
Aaron Blair will take the mound to make his season debut in Wednesday’s series finale, which is scheduled for 2:40 p.m. CT. Blair was a highly regarded prospect when the D-backs traded him after the 2015 season. But after struggling in 15 starts with Atlanta last year, he has spent this season with Triple-A Gwinnett.
