ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — William Contreras hit two impressively long home runs, Austin Riley also connected and Travis Demeritte had an inside-the-park homer as the Atlanta Braves beat the Texas Rangers 6-3 on Friday night.
Demeritte was emphatically waved home by third-base coach Ron Washington, the baseball lifer who turned 70 on the day Atlanta opened the series in Texas. Washington was the manager of the Rangers for their only World Series appearances in 2010 and 2011, and finally got a championship ring last year with the Braves.
While the four Atlanta homers came off four different Rangers pitchers, Braves right-hander Ian Anderson (2-1) allowed two runs and three hits with five strikeouts and two walks over six innings.