Sean Newcomb pitched six-plus scoreless frames and struck out a career-high eight Padres Tuesday night, sending the Braves to a series-opening 3-0 victory at Petco Park, their ninth straight against San Diego.

In four outings since his early June callup, Newcomb has four quality starts, and he lowered his ERA to 1.48. The rookie southpaw allowed six hits, while allowing only one walk.
“He was really good again,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “He threw a lot of strikes and was on the attack. His breaking ball was good. It was just a really impressive outing.”
On the other side, Padres right-hander Jhoulys Chacin continued to impress at Petco Park. He tossed seven innings of two-run ball to bring his home ERA to 1.83 (compared with a 9.08 mark on the road.) But Chacin was done in by Johan Camargo’s two-run double in the top of the fourth.
“Camargo has been amazing,” Braves center fielder Ender Inciarte said. “He’s giving us really good at-bats every single day. You see him play and it’s like a veteran playing the game. He’s not putting any pressure on his shoulders. He’s just coming to play and have fun.”
The Braves tacked on an insurance run in the eighth when Inciarte led off with an infield hit and advanced around the bases on an error and two fly balls. That was plenty of cushion for a trio of relievers, who struck out six Padres over three innings.
Seven Friars went down looking on Tuesday night against — in the words of Padres manager Andy Green — “the largest strike zone I’ve ever seen against our guys.” On the night, the Braves received 39 called strikes.
“These umpires are human,” said Padres first baseman Wil Myers, who went 2-for-4. “They miss calls. Like I said before, I’ve missed some pitches right over the plate and fouled them off. It’s no big deal if they miss one. Everybody’s human.”
Matt Adams doubled to open the fourth, and Tyler Flowers followed with a single. Two batters later Camargo sent them both home with a double into the left-center-field gap, barely out of the reach of the newly activated Manuel Margot. Camargo was thrown out at third on the play, but the Braves had their lead.
“I could’ve made a better pitch to [Camargo],” Chacin said. “After that, I was just trying to keep the game there, trying to go deep into the game.”
Myers came an inch from putting the Padres on top in the first inning. Heck, he may have been closer than that. Myers sent an opposite-field blast off the very top of the right-center-field wall, and he broke into a trot, believing the ball had left the yard. Instead, it ricocheted back into the field of play, and Myers settled for a double. A crew-chief’s review confirmed the call on the field.
But replays appeared to show the ball hitting a separate padded area behind the initial fence. According to the Petco Park ground rules, “a batted ball in flight striking the top of the right field wall above/beyond the padding or scoreboard [is a] home run.”
“I have no clue how New York interpreted it the way they did,” Green said. “It’s hard to even understand. It’s frustrating for the team. It’s frustrating for Wil. We’re on top 1-0 at that point in time, and that ball is clearly a home run the way our ground rules are written. … Anything that clears that front part of the wall, lands on top, that’s a home run. We have a very clear understanding of the ground rules in that way.”
On the way to becoming the first player in Atlanta Braves history to open a career with four consecutive quality starts, Newcomb recorded 25 called strikes, 21 of which were fastballs. He hadn’t recorded more than 12 called strikes with his fastball during any of his previous three starts.
Bartolo Colon will take the mound when this three-game series resumes Wednesday at 9:10 p.m. CT. Colon has been on the disabled list for the past three weeks with a strained left oblique. He limited the Padres to one run over seven innings on April 16, but has posted a 9.21 ERA in the nine starts that have followed.

The Round Rock Express scored a pair of runs in the ninth inning en route to a 6-4 win over the Nashville Sounds in front of 9,431 fans Tuesday night at First Tennessee Park.

With the game even at 4-4 in the top of the ninth, Round Rock’s Travis Snider delivered a two-out, two-run double to give the Express a 6-4 lead, and eventual win.

Sounds (37-40) closer Jake Sanchez retired the first two batters of the inning. Back-to-back two-out knocks by Brett Nicholas and Ryan Rua set the stage for Snider who rifled a pitch from Sanchez down the left field line.

Jason Martinson followed with a base hit to left field, but left fielder Jaff Decker fired a perfect throw to catcher Ryan Lavarnway who put the tag on Snider to end the inning.

It was a back-and-forth contest throughout the night between the division rivals. Round Rock jumped on Sounds starter Chris Smith with three runs in the second inning to grab a 3-0 lead.

The Sounds fought back with two runs in the second, and another run in the fourth to even the game at 3-3.

Melvin Mercedes drove in a run with a triple off the right field wall, and Kenny Wilson knocked in a run with a base hit in the second. In the fourth, Wilson singled and swiped second and third before sprinting home with the tying run on a wild pitch.

Ryan Rua’s run-scoring base hit sent the lead back to the Express in the fifth, but Nashville evened it up again in the bottom half of the inning. Jaff Decker’s two-out base hit to center plated Mercedes to make it 4-4.

Both bullpens kept it there until the ninth when Sanchez allowed the double to Snider. Joely Rodriguez, Tony Barnette, Adam Loewen, and R.J. Alvarez combined to throw 5 1/3 shutout relief innings for the Express.

Decker, Wilson, and Mark Canha had multi-hit games for the Sounds. Decker’s two hits extended his hitting streak to seven games.

Game three of the four-game series is scheduled for Wednesday night at First Tennessee Park. Right-hander Frankie Montas (0-1, 5.68) starts for Nashville against right-hander James Dykstra (0-1, 6.14) for Round Rock. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.