BY GARY SCHATZ
CINCINNATI (AP) — Marcell Ozuna homered, Gio Urshela drove in three runs and Spencer Schwellenbach pitched six innings of one-run ball as the Atlanta Braves beat the Cincinnati Reds 7-1 on Wednesday night.
The win allowed the Braves to stay within two games of the Mets and Diamondbacks for the final National League wild card spot.
The Braves are 1-4 against the Reds this season.
Ozuna greeted Tony Santillan (2-3) with his 38th home run of the season in the seventh, a solo shot that broke a 1-1 tie. The blast ended Ozuna’s home run drought at 26 games and his RBI drought at 19 games. Urshela drove in two runs with a bases loaded single, pushing the lead to 4-1 after seven.
In the eighth, Michael Harris II homered and Ozuna doubled to knock in Eli White and record his 100th RBI of the season.
“It means a lot, you know, after last year, the rough start,” Ozuna said. “All year it has been amazing and special for me. I have the confidence. I come every day to play the game. It is up and down every time in baseball. It is hard. You have to have patience and have fun.”
“I’m happy for him to get that 100th out of the way,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “I’ve never experienced that, but I can imagine how guys want to get that. He might go on a tear now that he got that out of the way.”
Urshela drove in his third run with a ground-rule double in the ninth.
Schwellenbach (7-7) made his 19th start for the Braves. In six innings, he allowed one run on five hits while striking out five and walking two.
“These are the games I want to pitch in,” Schwellenbach said. “I have over 150 innings. I feel like I’ve hit a new wave, I guess.”
Schwellenbach only pitched 65 innings in his first year of professional baseball. He threw 45 innings in the minors this season and has now logged 109 innings in the majors
“He’s been as valuable as anybody,” Snitker said. “I’m glad he got out of the sixth (first and third with two outs). When you get in a close game like that, you never know what’s going to happen. The guys could rally like we did and get him a win. I thought he was really, really good again tonight.”
The Reds managed three hits in the first five innings and pushed their only run across in the sixth. Elly De La Cruz hit his ninth triple into the right field corner to lead off the inning. De La Cruz scored on TJ Friedl’s safety squeeze.
Jakob Junis made his fourth start for the Reds. He was pressed into a starting role when Hunter Greene, Andrew Abbott and Nick Lodolo were injured. Junis retired the first 11 Braves batters before Ozuna doubled. Matt Olson’s single to center broke the scoreless tie in the fourth.
Junis pitched six innings, allowing just two hits. He retired 18 of the 20 batters he faced.
“We got really nice pitching from Jakob for sure,” Reds manager David Bell said. “I think the story of the game was their young pitcher was really tough on us tonight. We couldn’t get much going. TJ made a nice play getting Elly in. That was pretty much it.”
TRAINER’S ROOM
Braves: Ozzie Albies made his first rehab start Tuesday night. “He hit off lefties all night. Everything was good. I hope he can get some right on right at bats, tonight,” Snitker said.
Reds: The Reds are deciding whether Greene will make a start Sunday.
UP NEXT
The finale of the three-game series on Thursday afternoon will feature the Reds’ rookie Julian Aguiar (2-0, 4.88 ERA) against Braves’ veteran Chris Sale (17-3, 2.35 ERA).
