Suarez helps Giants knock off Braves
San Francisco rookie Andrew Suarez pitched 5 1/3 strong innings to earn his first career victory on Sunday, a 4-3 triumph over the Atlanta Braves that gave the Giants a three-game series sweep.
Suarez, a 25-year-old southpaw, was making his third major league start. He allowed one unearned run on seven hits and one walk. Suarez (1-1) struck out six and solidified his place in the starting rotation as a replacement for the injured Johnny Cueto.
Hunter Strickland earned his eighth save. He has converted six straight save opportunities.
San Francisco has won four straight and eight of its last nine.
Atlanta's Mike Soroka (1-1) lasted only four innings in his second career start. He allowed four runs on seven hits and three walks. He struck out three.
Atlanta relievers Sam Freeman, Jesse Biddle, Peter Moylan, Dan Winkler and Arodys Vizcaíno combined to pitch the final five innings and did not allow a run.
Atlanta scored a run in the first inning when Tyler Flowers singled home Ronald Acuna Jr.
The Giants scored a pair of runs in the third inning on RBI singles from Nick Hundley and Pablo Sandoval.
San Francisco added two more runs in the fourth inning. Alen Hanson scored the first run on Gregor Blanco's infield out and Andrew McCutchen got the other run home on a sacrifice fly to left field.
Atlanta tried to mount a comeback in the ninth inning against Strickland. The Braves scored a run on Kurt Suzuki's double and added another on Ender Inciarte's groundout. But Ozzie Albies popped out to end the game with the tying run on third.
Atlanta right fielder Nick Markakis went 0-for-4 and saw his 12-game hitting streak end.
The Braves made a roster move on Sunday, recalling right-hander Luke Jackson from Triple-A Gwinnett and shipping right-hander Lucas Sims back to the Stripers. It is Jackson's second stint with the big-league team this year.
--Field Level Media
