Braves lose close one as Padres bullpen steps up Chattanooga ...

ATLANTA — The regular season is just a little more than a week old, but halfway through a four-game series between the San Diego Padres and the host Atlanta Braves, both teams have done their part to make it feel like a postseason showdown.

This one went the Padres' way.

Xander Bogaerts drove in the go-ahead run in the sixth inning, Nelson Cruz went 3-for-5 with two RBIs, and San Diego got strong relief pitching to beat the Braves 5-4 on Friday night.

"There's big outs over the course of a game, but that last out of the fifth was huge," Padres manager Bob Melvin said of Brent Honeywell's bases-loaded strikeout of Atlanta's Eddie Rosario. "For a guy who really didn't know what his role was early on, we knew he had some length potentially."

Atlanta rallied for a walk-off win in its home opener Thursday night, 7-6, and Friday was more of the same in a neck-and-neck battle.

The Padres began the game with a 5.84 bullpen ERA, third-highest in the majors, before Honeywell (1-0), Luis García and Josh Hader combined to hold the Braves scoreless in the last 4 1/3 innings. Hader celebrated his 29th birthday with his second save of the season, retiring three of four batters with two strikeouts in the ninth.

Bogaerts put San Diego up 5-4 with an RBI single that bounced into shallow right field on a checked swing. His good fortune helped San Diego, which advanced to the National League Championship Series last year as a wild card out of thte West Division, stop a two-game skid and improve to 4-4.

"When you have two games that ended like the last two did for us, it feels like it's been a while since you won a game, when in reality we just lost a couple of games," Melvin said. "But against this team ... it was a good game to win."

Five-time reigning NL East champion Atlanta (6-2) scored three times in the third to draw even at 3-3 on Marcell Ozuna's homer, Riley's RBI single and a wild pitch by starter Nick Martinez, who gave up a bases-loaded walk in the fifth to make it 4-4. Martinez walked five and allowed four runs in 4 2/3 innings.

"We had the deck stacked a couple of times, more than that, really," Braves manager Brian Snitker said. "We just couldn't get a big hit tonight."

Atlanta rookie Jared Shuster had his own struggles with command throughout four-plus innings, walking four batters and giving up four runs and six hits. He issued a one-out walk to Juan Soto in the first and gave up an infield single to Manny Machado and an RBI double to Cruz before allowing a bases-loaded walk that made it 2-0.

San Diego led 3-0 in the second on Cruz's infield single. The Padres went up 4-3 in the fifth when Machado doubled and scored on another single by Cruz.

"It's always nice to be a part of offensive power — that's my job," said the 42-year-old Cruz, in his first season with San Diego. "It was good to see the bullpen bounce back and get the W. It always feels nice to feel a part of the team in a win."

Michael Tonkin (0-1) took the loss.

Atlanta's Rosario and Ozzie Albies went a combined 0-for-9 with 14 runners left on base.

Braves right fielder Ronald Acuña Jr. leaped to make a tough catch against the wall to rob Soto of an extra-base hit and end the fourth.

Before the game, the Braves placed center fielder Michael Harris II, the NL's top rookie last year, on the injured list with a lower back strain and called up Eli White from Gwinnett to take his place. Sam Hilliard replaced Harris in the lineup and went 2-for-4. Snitker said Harris isn't injured seriously and should be ready to return in 10 days.

"We want to get him right," Snitker said. "He probably would've missed four or five days, so we decided to go ahead and take care of this."

Harris appeared to be injured as he slid awkwardly while stealing second base in Atlanta's victory over San Diego on Thursday. Harris also hit the outfield wall on Wednesday while chasing a fly ball during Atlanta's road win against the St. Louis Cardinals, but Snitker indicated the injury occurred on the slide.

"He's a guy that plays all out," Snitker said. "Not afraid to run into a wall to make a play. He will dive. He's stealing bases. So it's just strained. It's nothing big."

The scheduled starting pitchers for the third game of the series are both right-handers, Atlanta's Charlie Morton (1-0, 5.06 ERA) and San Diego's Michael Wacha (1-0, 6.00), but with rain in the forecast for much of Saturday, the game could get pushed back as part of a doubleheader on Sunday.