{"id":720356,"date":"2026-06-07T04:39:21","date_gmt":"2026-06-07T04:39:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/720356\/"},"modified":"2026-06-07T04:39:21","modified_gmt":"2026-06-07T04:39:21","slug":"dominic-smith-blasts-a-2-run-homer-as-braves-improve-the-majors-best-record-by-beating-pirates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/720356\/","title":{"rendered":"Dominic Smith blasts a 2-run homer as Braves improve the majors’ best record by beating Pirates"},"content":{"rendered":"

ATLANTA (AP) \u2014 Dominic Smith<\/a> hit a two-run homer, Spencer Strider<\/a> allowed three runs in five innings and the Atlanta Braves<\/a> recovered after losing an early three-run lead to beat the Pittsburgh Pirates<\/a> 6-3 on Saturday and clinch another series win.<\/p>\n

Atlanta led 3-0 after three innings. The Pirates pulled even in the fifth on Brandon Lowe<\/a>\u2019s sacrifice fly off Strider (4-1). <\/p>\n

The Braves delivered a quick answer by scoring three runs off Braxton Ashcraft<\/a> (5-3) in the bottom of the third. Ronald Acu\u00f1a Jr. and Matt Olson<\/a> reached on singles before their double-steal set up a go-ahead sacrifice fly by Ozzie Albies<\/a>. Smith then lined the two-run homer just inside the foul pole in left field. <\/p>\n

Raisel Iglesias<\/a> pitched the ninth for his 13th save. He has converted 31 consecutive save opportunities since July 28, 2025, the majors\u2019 longest active streak. <\/p>\n

Lowe left the game after fouling a ball off his right knee in the ninth.<\/p>\n

The Braves improved the majors\u2019 best record to 44-21. They have won 18 of 21 series, including 10 of 11 at home.<\/p>\n

Pirates third baseman Tyler Callihan<\/a>, making his first start of the season, had a run-scoring double, a walk and a stolen base.<\/p>\n

Catcher Austin Wynns<\/a>, who was acquired from the Los Angeles Angels<\/a> for cash on Thursday, was held without a hit in his first start for the Braves. <\/p>\n

Atlanta held out center fielder Michael Harris II<\/a> with back tightness. Manager Walt Weiss said the move was precautionary. Harris left Friday night\u2019s 6-3 win in the ninth.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll give him a day and see how he\u2019s feeling,\u201d Weiss said. \u201c… I think this is gonna be very short term.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mauricio Dub\u00f3n had two hits and scored two runs while filling in for Harris.<\/p>\n

Up next<\/p>\n

Pirates RHP Bubba Chandler<\/a> (2-6, 4.89), a native of Lawrenceville, Ga., an Atlanta suburb, is scheduled to start against Braves RHP Bryce Elder<\/a> (5-3, 2.63) in Sunday\u2019s final game of the series.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP MLB: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/mlb<\/p>\n

Charles Odum, The Associated Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ATLANTA (AP) \u2014 Dominic Smith hit a two-run homer, Spencer Strider allowed three runs in five innings and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":720357,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[435],"tags":[49,48,462,82],"class_list":["post-720356","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-mlb","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/720356","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=720356"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/720356\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/720357"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=720356"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=720356"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=720356"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}