Fastball

Atlanta Braves Complete Historic Turnaround By Getting Over .500 with Win on Friday

After starting out 0-7 on the season, the Braves are finally over .500 after beating the Boston Red Sox 4-2 on Friday night.
Brady Farkas|
Atlanta Braves first baseman Matt Olson (28) celebrates his home run against the Boston Red Sox with catcher Sean Murphy (12) during the second inning at Fenway Park on May 16.
Atlanta Braves first baseman Matt Olson (28) celebrates his home run against the Boston Red Sox with catcher Sean Murphy (12) during the second inning at Fenway Park on May 16. | Eric Canha-Imagn Images

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Boston Red Sox

The Atlanta Braves have officially put their dreadful 0-7 start to the season behind them.

After beating the Boston Red Sox 4-2 on Friday night at Fenway Park, the Braves are over .500 for the first time this season at 23-22.

Former Red Sox ace Chris Sale dominated his old team, going seven strong innings and allowing just one earned run. He walked two and struck out eight. The reigning National League Cy Young winner, Sale is now 2-3 with a 3.62 ERA.

Matt Olson (8) and Sean Murphy (8) each hit home runs.

According to Sarah Langs of MLB.com, the Braves are the first team since 2008 to start the year with seven-plus losses and then get back over .500.

The Braves (23-22) are the the 5th team to move above .500 after losing 7+ consecutive games to begin a season, joining:

2008 Tigers (0-7 to 41-40)
1983 Astros (0-9 to 33-32)
1980 Braves (0-7 to 66-65)
1945 Red Sox (0-8 to 21-20)

h/t @MLBNetwork research squad

And the Braves should get even stronger in the coming weeks, as Spencer Strider is about to return to the starting rotation and Ronald Acuna Jr. has just begin a minor league rehab assignment. Acuna is recovering from a torn ACL while Strider had a hamstring issue.

The Braves and Red Sox will play again on Saturday night with first pitch coming at 7:15 p.m. ET. Grant Holmes will pitch for Atlanta while Lucas Giolito takes the ball for Boston.

Holmes is 2-3 with a 4.14 ERA. Giolito is 1-1 with a 5.51.

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Brady Farkas
BRADY FARKAS

Brady Farkas is a baseball writer for Fastball on Sports Illustrated/FanNation and the host of 'The Payoff Pitch' podcast which can be found on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Videos on baseball also posted to YouTube. Brady has spent nearly a decade in sports talk radio and is a graduate of Oswego State University. You can follow him on Twitter @WDEVRadioBrady. 

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