ATLANTA _ With the National League's highest-scoring offense and a young roster oozing with potential, the Atlanta Braves hardly looked like a mess entering the weekend.
Tell that to the Giants, who broke out the brooms anyway and swept away the first place team in the National League East with a 4-3 win on Sunday.
In a game featuring a pair of rookie pitchers who had combined for three career starts before Sunday's series finale, Giants southpaw Andrew Suarez, 25, outdueled Braves right-hander Mike Soroka, 20, to pick up his first career victory
The Giants' sweep marked the club's first since taking three in a row from the Pittsburgh Pirates from June 30-July 2, 2017. Though the Giants dominated the Braves starters all weekend, the pitching staff allowed just six earned runs in a series against an offense that entered on a hot streak and has thrived in a hitter-friendly home ballpark.
With 5 and 1/3 innings of one-run ball, Suarez led the Giants to their seventh win in eight games and became the fourth different rookie pitcher to claim a victory this season, joining relievers Roberto Gomez, Reyes Moronta and Pierce Johnson.
The only contest the Giants dropped this week was Suarez's last outing, a 3-2 defeat against the Padres which featured a go-ahead ninth inning home run by Eric Hosmer off closer Hunter Strickland. On Sunday, it was the Georgia native Strickland who allowed two runs in the ninth and let the game-tying run reach third base before securing his eighth save of the year.
For the third straight day, the Giants fell behind in the first inning as the Braves pushed across an unearned run after second baseman Alen Hanson misplayed a grounder off Nick Markakis' bat that should have ended the inning. With the bases loaded and two outs, third baseman Pablo Sandoval took away a potential two-run single from Johan Camargo with a diving stop to end the inning.
After the first inning, Suarez settled down and rolled double plays in three straight frames, recording three groundball double plays for his second straight start. The 40 turned by the Giants this season lead the Major Leagues and the three Suarez induced Sunday offered his offense a chance to go to work.
The Giants' comeback began in the top of the third when left fielder Gregor Blanco led off with a single against Soroka. A one-out opposite field single from catcher Nick Hundley evened the game at 1-1 before Sandoval pushed the Giants ahead with a blooper down the left field line that scored Andrew McCutchen.
Hanson made up for his first inning fielding blunder with a single to lead off the fourth which set the stage for the Giants' next rally. After a Suarez sacrifice bunt moved Hanson to third and Austin Jackson up to second, Hanson sprinted toward home at the first sound of contact from Blanco's bat.
Despite an on-target throw from first baseman Freddie Freeman, Hanson executed a headfirst slide to beat the tag of Tyler Flowers and add on to the Giants' lead. A sacrifice fly from McCutchen extended the advantage to three runs, bolstering the confidence of Suarez who would face the top of the Braves' order one more time.
Atlanta leadoff hitter Ozzie Albies crushed a 106-mile-per-hour line drive high off the right field bricks with two outs in the fifth, but Suarez recovered by striking out Braves rookie Ronald Acuna, Jr. to end the inning. After allowing a Freeman single to lead off the sixth, Suarez finished his day with his sixth strikeout as he got Markakis swinging before manager Bruce Bochy gave him the hook.
Suarez outlasted Soroka, who gave the Braves just four innings a day after starter Brandon McCarthy lasted 3 and 1/3 innings in an 11-2 Giants win. A 2015 second round draft choice, Suarez should remain in the rotation for the foreseeable future as the Giants do not expect to have Madison Bumgarner or Johnny Cueto back this month.
With a well-rested bullpen at his disposal, Bochy played matchups in the late innings as he called on Cory Gearrin to finish off the sixth and tabbed right-hander Sam Dyson to pitch the bottom of the seventh.
The cleanest inning of the day, though, belonged to lefty Tony Watson who retired Acuna, Jr., Freeman and Markakis on six pitches in the bottom of the eighth.
