Matt Kemp hit three home runs in a game for the first time in his career, and the Braves continued to mash the ball, landing an 11-3 victory over Milwaukee on Saturday. Dansby Swanson also homered, and the Braves churned out 20 hits to win their fourth straight game. Atlanta has scored 36 runs in that stretch.

Tyler Flowers notched four hits for the Braves, and each of Atlanta’s 3-4-5 hitters came away with three hits apiece.
“Some guys have started off pretty slow, but guys are working their butts off trying to get everything going,” Kemp said. “One through nine, even the pitchers, we’ve got some great hitters. Some guys start out slow, some guys start off fast. Hopefully coming up now, everybody starts clicking at the same time.”
Jaime Garcia (1-1) continued his long-standing success against the Brewers, allowing two earned runs on three hits in six innings. He did walk five batters and hit another, but he kept his career ERA against Milwaukee at 2.88 and upped his record to 12-6 vs. the Brewers.
“He did a great job of limiting damage,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “Jaime just kept pitching and kept pitching. He got the double play to get us out of that big first inning.”
Brewers starter Jimmy Nelson struggled for a third straight start, allowing five runs on 11 hits (tying a career high) in five innings. After two excellent starts to begin 2017, Nelson has allowed 15 earned runs in 15 2/3 innings.
“I’m not second guessing myself or my mentality coming into this year at all,” Nelson said, noting that his emphasis coming into the year was pitching to contact and limiting walks. “I honestly feel like I’m at peace where I’m at. I did everything I can do in the offseason physically. My main focus is just executing pitches, and everything else is out of my control.”
For the second straight night, the Braves tacked on six runs against the Brewers’ bullpen.
“They’re swinging the bat well,” Brewers manager Craig Counsell said of the Braves. “They finished their series in New York swinging the bats well. … We’re catching a team that’s really hot right now.”
A two-out passed ball by Brewers catcher Manny Pina had larger consequences than just one run, as Ender Inciarte scampered home to make it 3-1 in the fifth. No longer compelled to stay near the bag at third base, Milwaukee’s Travis Shaw shifted dramatically to his left and wasn’t in position to catch Freddie Freeman’s bloop single close to third. Kemp followed with a two-run homer, making the score 5-1. Inciarte was on third after Jonathan Villar made an error on a pickoff throw, marking the seventh straight game Milwaukee has committed at least one error.
Garcia worked out of a jam in the fifth, getting pinch-hitter Jesus Aguilar to fly out with runners on second and third in a 5-2 game. The Brewers had scored a run on a wild pitch during the at-bat by Aguilar, who checked into the game after Shaw exited with a right hand contusion. Counsell said Shaw had trouble gripping the bat, though X-rays taken during the game were negative.
Kemp’s three-homer game is the first for Atlanta since Mark Teixeira launched three against Seattle on June 22, 2008. Current Brave R.A. Dickey worked two innings of relief in that game for the Mariners and gave up two runs, but not one of the three blasts — Teixeira struck out in his lone at-bat against Dickey.
Mike Foltynewicz will look to continue his run of success when he starts the series finale against the Brewers at 1:10 p.m. CT at Miller Park on Sunday. The right-hander has gone seven innings in consecutive starts, allowing a total of three runs with 12 strikeouts.

The offense exploded and the pitching was superb as the Nashville Sounds smashed the New Orleans Baby Cakes, 10-2, in front of a sellout crowd of 10,672 fans at First Tennessee Park Saturday night.
The scoring was fast and furious for Nashville (9-11) as Renato Nuñez started the flurry with a solo homer to lead off the second inning. It was Nuñez’s fourth home run of the season.
It continued in the third when Matt Olson roped a two-out, two-run single to right field to make it a 3-0 game. Olson had a huge night at the plate, finishing 4-for-5 with three singles, a double, and a run scored.

As the offense continued its onslaught, starter Chris Smith dialed in. The right-hander breezed through six shutout innings. He allowed only three hits, walked one, and struck out three in the winning effort. The last three starters for Nashville (Smith, Paul Blackburn, and Sonny Gray) have combined to throw 17 scoreless innings.

Seven came to the plate for Nashville in a three-run fourth inning. Joey Wendle’s RBI fielder’s choice boosted the lead to 4-0, and Mark Canha plated a pair with a double to left field to make it a 6-0 game.

Olson’s big night continued in the fifth with a double off the right field wall. After an infield single by Bruce Maxwell, Matt McBride drove in Olson with a sacrifice fly. Maxwell went 3-for-4 with a pair of runs scored.

The Sounds pounded out 14 hits to go along with the season-high 10 runs. The final shot came in the seventh when Franklin Barreto and Mark Canha added a pair of run-scoring doubles. Barreto’s third and final hit of the night drove in two, while Canha’s second double of the night scored Barreto to give the Sounds a 10-0 lead.

Relievers Tucker Healy, Aaron Kurcz, and Simon Castro went the rest of the way when Smith exited after six. Healy tossed a scoreless seventh, Kurcz pitched the eighth, and Castro closed out the win with the ninth.

It’s the first winning streak of the season for the Sounds who guaranteed a series win.

Game four of the five-game series is scheduled for Sunday afternoon at First Tennessee Park. Right-hander Zach Neal (1-2, 4.87) starts for Nashville against right-hander Scott Copeland (2-2, 5.89) for New Orleans. First pitch is slated for 2:05 p.m.

Vladimir Tarasenko scored twice and the St. Louis Blues defeated the Nashville Predators, 3-2, in Game Two to even their Second Round series at 1-1. It’s the first loss the Preds have suffered of the 2017 postseason, and a late goal by the Blues sealed the result.

As was the case in Game One, St. Louis tallied twice in the third period, and a 5-0 count in power-play opportunities for the Blues didn’t help Nashville’s cause.

“I thought they played a much tighter game,” defenseman Ryan Ellis said. “Kudos to them, they played a good game too. It’s disappointing to be up halfway through the third there [and then lose], but we have to stay out of the box, maybe get a call here and there and just capitalize on our chances. I thought we came at them down the stretch, but their goalie made some good saves.”

Just as they did in Game One, Nashville struck first when Ellis blasted a shot from the point that deflected off of Colton Sissons, then James Neal, then Jake Allen, and into the net for a 1-0 lead, with the goal being credited to Neal. Late in the frame, Preds center Vernon Fiddler was assessed a five-minute major for kneeing and a game misconduct, and with 20 seconds remaining in the period, Tarasenko evened the score.

Nashville killed the remaining time on the Fiddler major to begin the second, with the two teams combining for just 23 shots through 40 minutes and an unchanged score.

As the third period began, it wasn’t long before Nashville went back on top once more. Cody McLeod laid a hit in the Blues zone to force a turnover, and Ellis blasted a shot – this time untouched – into the top corner for a 2-1 lead. Four minutes later, St. Louis got it back off a scramble in front, just as a power play had expired, to even the score.

Then at the 16:09 mark of the third, it was Tarasenko who converted what proved to be the game-winner, his second of the night. Nashville had a late push, including a deflection off the post in the dying seconds, but Allen stood tall to give the Blues their first win of the series.

“There were things that I liked tonight,” Nashville Head Coach Peter Laviolette said. “The bottom line is we have to win hockey games. We didn’t win tonight.”

The Predators will now head home after facing their first true taste of adversity in these playoffs, having lost for the first time. Nashville believes they have more to give than what they saw in the first two outings in St. Louis, and they’ll get that chance beginning Sunday afternoon.

“I don’t think we expected to win 16 games straight and walk off with the Stanley Cup,” Ellis said. “We were bound to lose a game. I thought we played a decent game, but probably didn’t deserve to win with that one, and didn’t win that one. We’ll regroup, refocus and learn from our mistakes, come back stronger next game and be better.”

“There’s no time to be frustrated,” center Ryan Johansen said. “We have a great hockey club in here and we feel like we didn’t play very well in St. Louis for the most part. We had some spurts where we did good things, but we have a whole different level we can get to. We’ll get some rest and try and take care of business at home.”

Miikka Salomaki entered the lineup in Game Two for the first time in the 2017 postseason, recording five hits in 11:23 of ice time. Calle Jarnkrok re-joined the Nashville lineup, while P.A. Parenteau was among the scratches for the Preds.

The series now shifts to Nashville for Games Three and Four, beginning Sunday afternoon at Bridgestone Arena. Game Three comes with a 2 p.m. CT start on Sunday while Game Four is set for 8:30 p.m. on Tuesday.  Thunder Radio will bring you each broadcast as part of the Fifth Third Bank/Nashville Predators Radio Network

Freddie Freeman’s two-run homer in the ninth gave the Braves a 10-8 victory over the Brewers after Atlanta overcame a pair of four-run deficits on Friday night at Miller Park.

The Braves trailed 4-0 after two innings and 8-4 after the sixth, but battled back to tie the game on Kurt Suzuki’s pinch-hit single in the eighth inning before winning on Freeman’s eighth home run in the ninth. Freeman was 0-for-4 on the night before he connected with a Neftali Feliz fastball and lined it 106 mph off the bat, according to Statcast™, to center field.
“I was just thankful to get another opportunity,” Freeman said. “I was pretty terrible for the first eight innings. Usually, when you are feeling bad at the plate and missing opportunities, you want another one just to redeem yourself.”
Before Friday, the biggest deficit overcome by the Braves in a victory this season was two runs.
“It says a lot about these guys and the way they are,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “They’ve been doing that for the almost year that I’ve been here. That’s good to see. Guys had good at-bats, and the bullpen did a good job with the exception of the homer.”
Orlando Arcia and Ryan Braun hit home runs off Bartolo Colon, and Domingo Santana homered off the bench for the Brewers, who have hit multiple home runs in 14 of their first 24 games, including eight games with three or more homers to lead the Major Leagues in both categories. Milwaukee also leads MLB with 43 homers.
The Brewers also lead MLB with eight relief losses, despite entering this series in the top 10 in relief ERA.
“They kept coming,” Brewers manager Craig Counsell said of the Braves. “Going down four, they kept at it, they kept putting tough at-bats on us. Give them some credit.”
The Brewers jumped to a 4-0 lead with a second-inning rally capped by Arcia’s opposite-field, three-run home run, but the advantage didn’t last long. The Braves struck right back with four runs of their own, the final three scoring on Matt Kemp’s two-out, bases-clearing double off Brewers starter Chase Anderson.
It was almost a five-run inning, but Brewers second baseman Jonathan Villar managed to glove Nick Markakis’ one-hop rocket to Villar’s backhand side, and threw to first for the final out of the frame.
“Chase has got off to a great start, but we faced him last year,” Freeman said. “We had a game plan that he pitches off that changeup. He kept us down. We got that big inning off of him, but he didn’t make many mistakes tonight.”
All square, again: The Brewers pulled ahead again with two-run homers from Braun and Santana and handed an 8-4 lead to reliever Jacob Barnes, who had not surrendered a run in his first 12 appearances this season. The Braves scored three times in that inning before Corey Knebel doused the rally, then, after Counsell opted for Carlos Torres over returning Knebel to the mound for the eighth, scored again to tie the game at 8 on Suzuki’s two-out single.
“We had the game set up good,” Counsell said. “We were up, 8-4, going into the seventh and had Jacob Barnes throwing. We’ll take that every night. This was a scripted game, really. It just didn’t work out.”
Before Friday, Barnes was one of five Major League relievers to log at least 10 innings without being scored upon.
“Obviously, you never want to give up runs,” said Barnes. “I knew at some point it was going to happen. Ideally it was not going to happen in this kind of situation, in this kind of game. … If you miss your spot just a little bit, [the Braves] are good at fighting it off or just poking it the other way, wherever the pitch is located. They’re just kind of small-ball, and occasionally they’ll hit a home run or whatever. But they’re good at just battling.”
Jaime Garcia will look to continue his dominance of the Brewers when he takes the mound for a 6:10 p.m. CT game on Saturday. The left-hander is 11-6 with a 2.88 ERA in 21 outings (20 starts) against Milwaukee in his career.

The Nashville Sounds used a familiar mix of dominant pitching and the long ball in a 4-1 win over the New Orleans Baby Cakes in front of 7,853 fans at First Tennessee Park Friday night.
The Nashville Sounds used a familiar mix of dominant pitching and the long ball in a 4-1 win over the New Orleans Baby Cakes in front of 7,853 fans at First Tennessee Park Friday night.

Sounds (8-11) starter Paul Blackburn cruised through five shutout innings and was backed by home runs from Mark Canha and Matt Olson in his first win of the season.

Blackburn allowed only two hits on the night – a double in the first, and a single in the fourth that was erased by a double play. The right-hander took a comebacker off the left leg in the fifth but stayed in the game. He was able to finish the inning but threw only 58 pitches on the night.

Nashville’s offense joined the party with a two-out rally in the bottom of the third. New Orleans (8-14) starter Stephen Fife retired the first two batters of the inning before Joey Wendle doubled to left-center. Mark Canha followed with a two-run homer to give the Sounds a 2-0 lead. The blast was Canha’s second in as many days and third in as many games.

The inning continued on Chris Parmelee’s infield single. Moments later, Renato Nuñez lined a double to the right-center gap to score Parmelee and make it a 3-0 game.

Chris Jensen took over for Blackburn and quickly worked a scoreless sixth inning. Matt Olson started the bottom half with a towering home run into The Band Box in deep right field. It was Olson’s third home run of the season.

Lipscomb alum Josh Smith turned in a scoreless seventh inning before giving way to Ross Detwiler in the eighth. Steve Lombardozzi’s two-out RBI double put the Baby Cakes on the board at 4-1.

That’s as close as they’d get as Simon Castro struck out the side in the ninth to earn his second save of the season.

Wendle went 3-for-4 as he continues his Major League rehab assignment and Nuñez had a pair of doubles. It’s the first back-to-back home wins of the season for the Sounds.

Game three of the five-game series is scheduled for Saturday night at First Tennessee Park. Right-hander Chris Smith (0-1, 3.07) starts for the Sounds against right-hander Vance Worley (1-2, 2.66) for the Baby Cakes. First pitch is slated for 6:35 p.m.