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Austin Slater's homer leads San Francisco Giants comeback win over Atlanta Braves

By Guy Curtright, The Sports Xchange

ATLANTA -- The San Francisco Giants got payback for the frightful inning they endured the previous evening against the Atlanta Braves and in the process ended their losing streak at seven games.

Rookie outfielder Austin Slater hit a three-run homer in a five-run eighth inning, and left-hander Matt Moore picked up his first road victory of the season as the Giants to beat the Braves 6-3 on a rainy Tuesday night.

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"It's a big win with the rut we've been in," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. "Their guy was throwing well. We just couldn't get anything going. But we caught a couple of breaks, and the kid bailed us out."

Braves starter Julio Teheran came into the eighth inning pitching a three-hit shutout, but Slater's homer put the Giants ahead and the Braves finished with three errors in the inning.

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"I knew I hit it good. I didn't know if I hit it high enough," Slater said of his second career homer.

The Giants had five hits, including a RBI single by Denard Span, in that frame and benefitted from an out call overruled by video review. Brandon Crawford drove in the other run on a fielder's choice as the Giants batted around in the inning.

On Monday, the Braves scored seven times in the eighth to beat the Giants 9-0 in the series opener.

"After the streak we've been on, where the dinkers are falling and the calls didn't go our way, it's good to get out of that rut and have some calls go our way," Slater said.

Moore (3-7) left after allowing a leadoff hit in the bottom of the eighth, and three relievers in the inning maintained the lead by holding the damage to one run.

"After yesterday, when we couldn't get an out in the eighth inning, that was good for them," Bochy said of his bullpen.

Brandon Belt gave the Giants a cushion with his 12th homer of the season in the ninth, and Mark Melancon retired the Braves in order in the bottom of the inning for his 11th save.

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Moore, who allowed eight runs in three innings at Colorado in his previous start and came in 0-4 on the road, was charged with three runs on seven hits. He struck out six and walked one.

"He was the old Matt Moore with his command and confidence," Bochy said. "It was a good bounce back after that game in Colorado."

Teheran (6-5) allowed just three singles through seven innings and had faced just one over the minimum thanks to pair of doubles play. The Braves didn't get any outs on a potential double play in the eighth, though, and things went from bad to worse.

"He was dealing and that was just a weird inning in the eighth," Braves manager Brian Snitker said. "We just didn't execute enough in that inning. It was unfortunate, because he threw so good."

One of the two unearned runs in the eighth was charged to Teheran. He allowed six hits, walked none and struck out two.

Teheran has a 1.86 ERA in his past three home starts after posting a 13.00 ERA in his previous four home outings.

"He's got back to his old self," Snitker said. "He's keeping the ball down. He's working both sides of the plate. His stuff is good. He's pitching a lot with his fastball and he's locating it, which he didn't do before."

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Braves rookie Johan Camargo had a triple, double and single in his fourth straight multi-hit game.

Moore retired the first six batters he faced before the Braves broke through in the third inning for two runs.

Camargo tripled to score Dansby Swanson, who had led off with a single. Camargo then scored on a long sacrifice fly by Ender Inciarte.

The Giants' Buster Posey hit into two double plays and was 0-for-4, ending his streak of reaching base safely at 37 consecutive road games to start the season -- the sixth-longest streak by a National Leaguer in the past 100 years.

NOTES: The Giants optioned RHP Derek Law (3-1, 5.40 ERA) to Triple-A Sacramento after the reliever allowed four runs while not getting an out in the eighth inning Monday. ... RHP Kyle Crick was recalled from Sacramento to make his major league debut. ... LHP Sean Newcomb (0-2, 2.19 ERA) will get his third major league start Wednesday for the Braves, going against RHP Jeff Samardzija (2-9, 4.81 ERA) for the Giants. ... RHP Bartolo Colon (2-7, 7.78 ERA) was slated to come off the Braves' 10-day disabled list and start, but the 44-year-old experienced back tightness during a throwing session Monday. ... 3B Eduardo Nunez (tight hamstring) was out of the Giants lineup for the fourth time in five games. ... Afternoon storms cancelled batting practice and most of the game was played in a light rain.

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