The Atlanta Braves demolished the Arizona Diamondbacks 17-2 Thursday night in Phoenix, with solo home runs from Matt Olson, Dominic Smith, and Mauricio Dubon leading a four-homer assault that turned their season opener on the road into a complete rout.
Atlanta’s decisive moment came during an explosive eight-run fifth inning that broke the game wide open, though none of their home runs occurred during that frame. The Braves added insult to injury with a five-run ninth inning that featured Jorge Mateo’s pinch-hit two-run blast, plus RBI doubles from both Olson and Mike Yastrzemski. Arizona’s struggles became so severe that catcher James McCann took the mound to finish the game.
Olson paced Atlanta’s offensive explosion with three hits and three RBIs, while Yastrzemski, Austin Riley, and Michael Harris II each contributed two RBIs. The victory marked Atlanta’s fifth win in their opening seven contests. Arizona saw its three-game winning streak come to an end, though Jordan Lawlar provided a bright spot by launching his first major league home run. Ildemaro Vargas added an RBI double in the ninth for the Diamondbacks.
On the mound, Reynaldo Lopez (1-0) earned the victory for Atlanta by surrendering just one run and four hits across five innings of work, striking out three while issuing one walk. Arizona’s Ryne Nelson (0-1) absorbed the loss after giving up seven runs, only two earned, on three hits in 4 2/3 innings. He fanned three and walked three.
In other MLB action, the San Francisco Giants defeated the New York Mets 7-2 in their series opener, with six different players driving in runs. Luis Arraez tied the game with an RBI triple in the first inning, and Matt Chapman immediately followed with the go-ahead RBI double. The Minnesota Twins topped the Kansas City Royals 5-1 behind six shutout innings from Taj Bradley, with three home runs coming in the ninth inning from Matt Wallner, Kody Clemens, and Josh Bell.
