ATLANTA — Justin Upton and Kelly Johnson homered to back eight strong innings by Rodrigo Lopez and help the Arizona Diamondbacks snap a seven-game losing streak with an 11-1 victory over the Atlanta Braves on Saturday night.
The Braves had won four straight and were 9-4 since ending a nine-game skid on April 30.
Upton’s sixth homer made it 1-0 in the first and his RBI triple in the fifth gave the Diamondbacks a 5-0 lead. The All-Star slugger is 6 for 10 in the series with four RBIs.
Tommy Hanson (3-3) lost for the first time in four starts. He allowed seven hits and five runs with 10 strikeouts and no walks in seven innings.
Lopez (2-2) yielded one run and seven hits with two walks with five strikeouts. The right-hander was 0-2 with a 4.73 ERA in his previous six starts.
Facing Atlanta for the first time since losing 8-1 with Baltimore at Turner Field on June 26, 2005, Lopez improved to 1-3 with a 2.91 ERA in five career appearances, all starts, against the Braves.
The Diamondbacks scored four runs in the fifth on Chris Snyder’s RBI single, Johnson’s RBI double, an RBI single by Conor Jackson and Upton’s triple.
Atlanta center fielder Nate McLouth lost Upton’s fly ball in the lights in the fifth. As the ball sailed over his head, rookie right fielder Jason Heyward chased it down and threw it to the infield to prevent an inside-the-park homer.
Nine of Arizona’s runs came with two outs, including Stephen Drew’s RBI infield single that made it 6-1 in the eighth against rookie Craig Kimbrel.
Johnson, who began the day tied with teammate Mark Reynolds for second place in the NL with 10 homers, hit his 11th to give the Diamondbacks a 7-1 lead in the ninth.
Drew’s third homer, a two-run shot, and two other runs in the ninth were charged to Jesse Chavez.
Martin Prado’s RBI groundout in the seventh cut the lead to 5-1.
An effective start by Lopez allowed Diamondbacks manager A.J. Hinch to rest a bullpen that had a 12.94 ERA over its previous six games and recorded its ninth blown save in 16 chances Friday.
NOTES: Before the game, Atlanta activated SS Yunel Escobar (leg) from the 15-day disabled list and placed OF Matt Diaz (thumb) on the 15-day DL. … The Diamondbacks are 17-11 against Atlanta and 10-6 at Turner Field since 2006.
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