Rookie Hurston Waldrep pitched a career-high seven scoreless innings, leading the Atlanta Braves to a 1-0 victory over the visiting Chicago White Sox on Wednesday in the third game of their three-game interleague series.
The game was completely different from the first two in the series, which saw the teams combine for 43 runs and 58 hits. Each team recorded four hits on Wednesday.
The Braves have secured seven victories in their past eight games and 11 wins in the last 14 contests. Chicago has dropped six of their last seven games and concluded their road trip with a 1-5 record.
Waldrep (4-0) gave up four hits, one base on balls, and set a new career high with seven strikeouts. He used 87 pitches, 60 of which were strikes. Waldrep, listed as Atlanta's No. 7 prospect, reduced his ERA to 0.73 with 24 strikeouts in 24 2/3 innings.
The Atlanta relief pitchers completed the task to secure the shutout. Pierce Johnson threw a scoreless eighth inning, recording one strikeout. Closer Raisel Iglesias pitched a flawless ninth inning, striking out Miguel Vargas to conclude the game, and picked up his 21st save.
Chicago starter Martin Perez (1-3) ended up as the unfortunate loss. He pitched 5 1/3 innings, giving up one run, which was unearned, on three hits and striking out five batters. It was yet another disappointing evening for the Venezuelan left-hander, who has not been able to defeat the Braves in four previous starts.
The Chicago relief pitching staff shut down the game with 2 2/3 innings of scoreless baseball. Jordan Leasure pitched 2/3 of an inning, Mike Vasil threw 1 2/3 innings, and Brandon Eisert worked 1/3 of an inning, keeping the Braves off the scoreboard with just one hit.
The Braves managed to score their sole run during the fourth inning. Marcell Ozuna hit a double to the left-field corner, moved to third base on a ground ball, and crossed home when Ozzie Albies' grounder was not properly handled by shortstop Colson Montgomery.
Atlanta's Michael Harris II was 0-3, concluding his 12-game hit streak.
Atlanta will play on Thursday and starts a three-game home series against the New York Mets on Friday. Chicago comes back home to begin a three-game matchup with Minnesota on Friday.
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