Atlanta Braves vs San Francisco Giants Box Score on Sep 18, 2021

Left-hander Alex Wood returned from a COVID-19 absence to start a seven-man shutout effort Saturday night as the San Francisco Giants pulled out a 2-0 win over the Atlanta Braves, who saw their lead in the National League East trimmed to one game.

Curt Casali directed a two-run single into right field to produce the game's only runs in the fourth inning, helping the Giants (97-52) beat the Braves (76-70) for the second consecutive night.

The win allowed San Francisco to retain its two-game advantage over the Los Angeles Dodgers (95-54) in the NL West, and also benefitted the Philadelphia Phillies (76-72), who sliced their NL East deficit in half.

Wood, who tested positive for the virus after his last start, hadn't pitched since Aug. 26 before cruising through three innings, allowing just one baserunner, Travis d'Arnaud, whom he hit with a pitch in the second.

Wood was pulled after throwing 37 pitches, and relievers Zack Littell, Jay Jackson, Jarlin Garcia, Jose Alvarez, Tyler Rogers and Dominic Leone then limited the Braves to five hits over the final six innings.

Littell (4-0), who allowed two of the Braves' five hits in his one inning, was credited with the win, while Leone, who got d'Arnaud to ground into a game-ending double play as the potential tying run, recorded his second save.

The Giants' only scoring came after Braves starter Charlie Morton (13-6) walked LaMonte Wade Jr. to open the fourth. Brandon Crawford followed with a single, and Mike Yastrzemski sacrificed the runners to second and third.

When an intentional walk would have loaded the bases for the bottom two batters in the order, the Braves instead elected to pitch to Casali.

Morton was pulled after five innings, charged with two runs on four hits. He walked three and struck out three.

The Braves wasted a first-and-third, no-out situation in the fourth when Littell struck out the next three men he faced.

Atlanta got just one runner into scoring position after that. It came when Morton sacrificed Dansby Swanson to second with the second out of the fifth, before Jackson struck out Ozzie Albies to retain the 2-0 lead.

Crawford was the only player in the game with multiple hits, stroking a pair of singles.

Each team had just one extra-base hit, with Atlanta's Jorge Soler and San Francisco's Tommy La Stella each recording a double.

--Field Level Media