Matt Olson sparked a three-run rally with a tiebreaking single in the eighth inning as the Atlanta Braves opened a three-game series against the visiting Seattle Mariners with a 4-1 win on Friday.
Ozzie Albies followed Olson’s RBI hit with an run-scoring triple as part of a 3-for-4 night, and Drake Baldwin added an RBI single. Atlanta (64-77) tallied five of its 10 hits in the decisive eighth inning.
Tyler Kinley (5-3) pitched a scoreless frame in front of Braves closer Raisel Iglesias, who retired the side in order in the ninth for his 24th save.
The Mariners (73-68) have lost four in a row and six of seven on their nine-game trip.
With the score tied at a run apiece, Jurickson Profar doubled against Gabe Speier (2-3) to begin the eighth inning. Profar came around to score when Olson’s single up the middle bounced off the pitcher’s mound and landed in center field.
After Albies tripled in a run, Baldwin capped the rally with a single to right that brought in Albies.
Atlanta took a 1-0 lead in the first inning after the first three batters reached base safely against Logan Gilbert. With one out, a run scored on Ha-Seong Kim’s sacrifice fly.
Profar returned from the paternity list and had two hits after missing three games. He also made a pair of stellar plays in left field, including a diving catch on Cal Raleigh’s liner in the sixth inning.
Seattle knocked Chris Sale out of the game and tied the score with a run in the seventh inning.
With a runner at first and two outs, Dylan Lee replaced Sale and allowed a single to Dominic Canzone. Leo Rivas followed with a run-scoring single to center field.
Sale allowed one run on four hits with no walks and nine strikeouts over 6 2/3 innings.
Atlanta native Harry Ford made his major league debut as a seventh-inning pinch hitter for the Mariners. He struck out on three pitches.
Gilbert settled in after the first inning and retired 11 of the final 12 batters he faced. He exited after giving up one run on five hits over six innings with one walk and seven strikeouts.
