HOUSTON — Atlanta designated hitter Marcell Ozuna continued his hot start to the first two-plus weeks of MLB's 2024 season with his eighth home run, and Orlando Arcia's RBI single in the top of the 10th inning lifted the Braves to a 5-4 win over the Houston Astros on Wednesday afternoon.
After back-to-back series against division opponents, six-time reigning National League East champion Atlanta jumped into interleague play with a rematch of the 2021 World Series. The Braves, who beat the Astros in six games to take that Fall Classic three years ago, swept a three-game set this time around in their first visit to Houston since then.
Atlanta, which improved to 12-5 and remains atop the NL East standings, has won four in a row, beating the Astros 6-1 on Monday and 6-2 on Tuesday. Houston, which before facing Atlanta had won two of three against reigning World Series champion Texas — the Rangers are also a rival in the American League West — fell to 6-14 and is at the bottom of its division.
The Braves scored two runs in the eighth inning to tie it at 4. Michael Harris II started the 10th as the automatic runner on second, and there was one out in the inning when Seth Martinez (1-1) intentionally walked Matt Olson.
Ozuna lined out to right field to send Harris to third base. Arcia then singled on a ground ball to left field to score Harris and put the Braves on top.
"He's got a slow heartbeat," manager Brian Snitker said of Arcia, Atlanta's 29-year-old shortstop. "I like seeing him in big situations. Even last year he had a lot of big hits. He doesn't get caught up in all the excitement. He stays calm and slows the game down and allows himself a chance."
Arcia has five hits and five RBIs in his past three games combined.
"Ozuna was just encouraging and saying let's go," Arcia said in Spanish through a translator. "Fortunately, I didn't try to do too much, and it worked out."
Pinch-runner Jake Meyers was on second when Kyle Tucker walked with no outs in the bottom of the 10th. Meyers moved to third on a flyout by Yainer Diaz, but Jeremy Peña grounded into a double play to end it.
A.J. Minter (3-1) got the last two outs of the ninth for the win, and Raisel Iglesias earned his fifth save of the season.
Snitker credited his bullpen for Atlanta's success in this series.
"If they don't hold leads and keep us close when we get behind, you don't have an opportunity to do that," he said. "That's the most valuable thing they can do, is just kind of keep the game in check and give us a chance, and they're really good at it."
Reigning NL MVP Ronald Acuña Jr. hit his first homer of the season to help the Braves to the victory. Ozuna, whose second-inning solo homer gave him 23 RBIs this year, extended his hitting streak to 16 games, which ties his career best and is the longest active streak in the majors. He's batting .352.
Yordan Alvarez and Mauricio Dubón both homered for the Astros, who are in their first season with Joe Espada as manager after Dusty Baker retired last year.
"As a team we just need to come together and play better and finish games," Espada said. "We've just got to play cleaner overall."
There was one out in the first when Alvarez connected on his homer to the seats in left field to put Houston up 1-0.
Ozuna opened the second with his 432-foot shot to left field, which bounced off the wall and tied the game.
Acuña put the Braves up 2-1 when he sent the first pitch of the fifth to straightaway center field. The Astros tied it in the bottom half on an RBI single by Alex Bregman, and Kyle Tucker's RBI double came next to put the Astros up 3-2.
Dubón hit his first home run of the year off Jesse Chavez to start Houston's half of the sixth and push the lead to 4-2.
Harris singled to start the seventh before a ground-rule double by Austin Riley. Olson reached, and Harris scored on a fielding error by first baseman José Abreu when he couldn't grab a routine ground ball. There was one out in the inning when Riley scored on a sacrifice fly by Arcia to tie it at 4.
Houston starter J.P. France allowed four hits and two runs in five innings.
Atlanta's Max Fried gave up seven hits and three runs in five innings. He remained 1-0 after not figuring in the decision for the third time in four starts this season.
The Braves are off Thursday before opening a three-game series against visiting Texas on Friday night with left-hander Chris Sale (1-1, 4.58 ERA) on the mound for Atlanta. The scheduled starter for the Rangers is Nathan Eovaldi (1-1, 2,92).