| Advertisement |
ATLANTA -- The Atlanta Braves, who opened the season with a 2-6 road trip, are definitely enjoying finally getting to play at their new ballpark. Bartolo Colon was masterful for seven innings, with the only hit the 43-year-old gave up a homer, and the Braves improved to 3-0 at SunTrust Park with a 9-2 victory over the San Diego Padres.
Advertisement
Ryan Schimpf's homer in the third inning was the only misstep by Colon, who walked one and struck out six while pitching in the 44th ballpark of his 20-year major league career.
The Braves didn't have a hit off Padres starter Trevor Cahill until the fifth but scored two runs in that inning, two more times in the sixth and seventh and three times in the eighth.
Brandon Phillips, who finished 3-for-4 with three RBIs, and Tyler Flowers had two-run singles off Cahill, and Ender Inciarte hit his fourth homer -- one more than the center fielder had all last season -- as the Padres' bullpen faltered.
The victory was Colon's 234th -- the most among active major leaguers.
The only Padres hitter that Colon (1-1) didn't retire in his third start for the Braves was Schimpf, who also walked. On his homer, the left-handed batter extended his arms and smacked a 2-2 fastball from that was up and away into the center field seats for his third homer with one out in the second inning.
The walk was leading off the fifth and Schimpf was erased on a double play as Colon faced just one over the minimum batters in his seven innings while throwing 60 of his 85 pitches for strikes.
Cahill, who was activated Sunday from the 10-day disabled list after missing one start with a lower back strain, hadn't allowed a hit and had faced the minimum number of batters thanks to a double play until the Braves (5-6) broke through in the fifth.
Phillips lined a 2-0 changeup past diving third baseman Schimpf with one out for the first hit and swiped second. A walk to Adonis Garcia and two wild pitches followed before Flowers delivered two runs with a single.
Phillips' two-run single with two outs in the sixth chased a tiring Cahill, who had given up a leadoff hit to Inciarte off shortstop Erick Aybar's glove before a one-out intentional walk to Freddie Freeman and a second runner-advancing groundout.
Cahill (0-2) surrendered four hits, walked three and struck out eight.
The Braves scored on a balk in the seventh before Inciarte smashed a homer over the right-field fence.
The Padres (5-8) scored an unearned run in the eighth, but the Braves scored three times in the bottom of the inning as Nick Markakis had an RBI double and pinch hitter Johan Camargo drove in a run with his first major league hit.
NOTES: Braves C Tyler Flowers left the game for a pinch runner after a two-run double in seventh inning and is listed as day-to-day with a strained right hamstring. ... Padres LF Travis Jankowski made a leaping catch to deprive LF Jack Peterson of a potential homer in the seventh inning. ... After two sellouts, the Braves drew 37,147 for their third game at SunTrust Park. ... RHP Kevin Quackenbush was optioned back to Triple-A El Paso on Sunday after one relief appearance when RHP Trevor Cahill was activated from the 10-day disabled list to start against the Braves. ... Padres RHP Jered Weaver (0-1, 4.91 ERA) faces the Braves for the first time as San Diego tries to avoid a sweep in the finale of the four-game series Monday. During his 11 seasons with the Angels, he pitched against all the other 29 major league teams. ... LHP Jamie Garcia (0-1, 5.73 ERA) will try to end a winless streak of eight starts dating to last year with St. Louis as he faces the Padres in his third outing for the Braves. He is 0-6 with a 7.60 ERA during the stretch.
