Atlanta left-hander Max Fried pitched six scoreless innings and earned his ninth straight win, as the Braves beat the visiting St. Louis Cardinals 3-0 on Wednesday.
Fried (9-2) gave up five hits, one walk and struck out four to improve to 4-0 in his career against St. Louis. It was the third scoreless appearance for Fried this season.
The Braves have won the first three games of the series and have taken seven of their last nine. St. Louis has lost four straight for the first time this season. Atlanta has won its last six games against the Cardinals.
The Braves broke a scoreless tie with back-to-back homers to open the fifth inning. Marcell Ozuna led off with a drive into the left-field stands, his 17th, and Eddie Rosario followed with a 446-foot blast to right field, his first of the season.
Fried found himself in a jam in the sixth when Dylan Carlson walked and Paul Goldschmidt singled to lead off the inning.
But Nolan Arenado hit into a double play, with third baseman Austin Riley making a nice back-handed stop on the hard-hit ball to halt St. Louis' momentum, and Juan Yepez struck out to end the threat.
The Cardinals also loaded the bases with two outs in the eighth against reliever Jesse Chavez. After a mound visit from pitching coach Rick Kranitz, Chavez retired pinch hitter Nolan Gorman on a hard-hit grounder to second base.
A.J. Minter pitched a scoreless ninth inning and earned his second save.
Miles Mikolas (5-7) took the loss after pitching six innings. He allowed three runs on five hits, walked one and fanned four.
The Braves added a run in the sixth when Riley and Travis d'Arnaud hit back-to-back doubles with two outs to make it 3-0.
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