ATLANTA (AP) — Willson Contreras hit a two-run home run in the eighth inning to help the Boston Red Sox beat the Atlanta Braves 3-2 on Saturday night.
Red Sox rookie left-hander Payton Tolle (2-2) gave up two runs over a season-high eight innings, allowing four hits and striking out three. The Red Sox are 15-1 when their starters pitch at least six innings.
Click to Gallery
Boston Red Sox Mickey Gasper (30) looks back after he slides safely into home against Atlanta Braves catcher Sandy León in the fourth inning of a baseball game Saturday, May 16, 2026, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
Boston Red Sox Willson Contreras (40) singles in the fourth inning of a baseball game against Atlanta Braves the Saturday, May 16, 2026, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
Atlanta Braves' José Azócar slides into home in the fifth inning of a baseball game against the Boston Red Sox Saturday, May 16, 2026, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
Boston Red Sox Mickey Gasper (30) slides safely into home against Atlanta Braves catcher Sandy León in the fourth inning of a baseball game Saturday, May 16, 2026, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
Boston Red Sox pitcher Payton Tolle (70) delivers in the first inning of a baseball game against the Atlanta Braves Saturday, May 16, 2026, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
Aroldis Chapman moved into a tie for 10th place with his 377th career save. He survived a throwing error with two outs and the bases empty by shortstop Andruw Monasterio, who was in for the injured Trevor Story.
Chapman walked Mauricio Dubón and Michael Harris II to load the bases. Ha-Seong Kim then hit a hard ground ball off Chapman, who scrambled off the mound and tossed the ball to first to end it.
Contreras' home run came off Bryce Elder (4-2), who gave up seven hits in eight innings and and threw a season-high 103 pitches. Contreras knocked in Wilyer Abreu, who doubled with two outs. Abreu was 2 for 4 with a run scored.
Masataka Yoshida’s sacrifice fly scored Mickey Gasper for the Red Sox's first run in the fourth inning.
Drake Baldwin was 2 for 3 with a home run and two RBIs for the Braves. He led off the game with a home run for the second consecutive day, with this one traveling 421 feet over the center field wall. Baldwin's two-out single in the fifth inning scored José Azócar from second base to break a 1-1 tie.
Braves RHP Grant Holmes (2-1, 4.35 ERA) was set to start Sunday against RHP Brayan Bello (2-4, 6.46) in the series finale.
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
Boston Red Sox Mickey Gasper (30) looks back after he slides safely into home against Atlanta Braves catcher Sandy León in the fourth inning of a baseball game Saturday, May 16, 2026, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
Boston Red Sox Willson Contreras (40) singles in the fourth inning of a baseball game against Atlanta Braves the Saturday, May 16, 2026, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
Atlanta Braves' José Azócar slides into home in the fifth inning of a baseball game against the Boston Red Sox Saturday, May 16, 2026, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
Boston Red Sox Mickey Gasper (30) slides safely into home against Atlanta Braves catcher Sandy León in the fourth inning of a baseball game Saturday, May 16, 2026, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
Boston Red Sox pitcher Payton Tolle (70) delivers in the first inning of a baseball game against the Atlanta Braves Saturday, May 16, 2026, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Thousands of people rallied Saturday in the city considered the crucible of the modern Civil Rights Movement to push back against conservative states’ efforts to dismantle congressional districts that helped secure Black political representation.
The gathering in Montgomery, Alabama, was put together in response to the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that weakened the Voting Rights Act and the resulting rush by southern states to redraw lines. Speakers said they returned to the city, famous for the Montgomery Bus Boycott and the Selma-to-Montgomery voting rights march, because the fight that began there is continuing for later generations.
The Rev. Bernice King, speaking near the spot where her father, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., addressed voting rights marchers in 1965, said the dedication and sacrifice of that generation changed the trajectory of the country.
“Sixty-one years later, we come back as new generations to this same hallowed place to reclaim and redeem that legacy because the recent Supreme Court decision demands our presence. It was not only a legal decision, y’all, it is a moral disgrace and a shameless assault on Black political power,” King said.
She said the decision strikes “at the very heart of my father’s and my mother’s sacrifice” and is a direct attack on the generations who faced “dogs and batons and bombs and billy clubs so that Black people and all marginalized communities could participate fully in this democracy.”
Civil rights leaders, Democratic members of Congress from across the country, union leaders and pastors spoke at the rally titled “All Roads Lead to the South.”
The crowd gathered in front of the Alabama Capitol, the place where the Confederacy was formed in 1861 and where the elder King spoke in 1965 at the end of the voting rights march. The stage stood in front of Capitol statues of Confederate President Jefferson Davis and civil rights icon Rosa Parks, tributes erected nearly 90 years apart and reminders of the state’s complex history.
U.S. Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey called Montgomery “sacred soil” in the fight for civil rights. U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell of Alabama said the gathering was not a protest, but “a call to action.” Speakers called upon voters to show their numbers at the ballot box.
“They think they can draw us out of power. They do not know the sleeping giant that they just awakened,” said U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a Democrat from New York.
Attendees stood for hours in summerlike temperatures for the rally that stretched on for more than four hours. The crowd was led in chants of “we won’t go back” and “we fight.”
Some in the crowd said the effort to redraw lines has echoes of the past.
“We lived through the ’60s. It takes you back. When you think that Alabama’s moving forward, it takes two steps back,” said Camellia A Hooks, 70, of Montgomery.
The recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling involving Louisiana hollowed out the voting rights law that was already weakened by a separate decision in 2013 and then narrowed further over the years. That helped clear the way for stricter voter ID laws, registration restrictions, and limits on early voting and polling place changes, including in states that once needed federal preclearance before they could change voting laws because of their historical discrimination against Black voters.
Veterans of the Civil Rights Movement are alarmed by the speed of the rollbacks, noting that protections won through generations of sacrifice have been weakened in little more than a decade.
Kirk Carrington, 75, was a teen in 1965 when law enforcement officers attacked marchers in Selma on what became known as “Bloody Sunday.” A white man on a horse wielding a stick chased Carrington through the streets.
“It’s really just appalling to me and all the young people that marched during the ’60s, fought hard to get voting rights, equal rights and civil rights,” Carrington said. “It’s sad that it’s continuing after 60-plus-odd years that we are still fighting for the same thing we fought for back then.”
Montgomery is home to one of the congressional districts that is being altered in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling.
A federal court in 2023 redrew Alabama’s 2nd Congressional District after ruling that the state intentionally diluted the voting power of Black residents, who make up about 27% of its population. The court said there should be a district where Black people are a majority or near-majority and have an opportunity to elect their candidate of choice.
But the Supreme Court cleared the way for a different map that could let the GOP reclaim the seat. While the matter remains under litigation, the state plans special primaries Aug. 11 under the new map.
U.S. Rep. Shomari Figures, who won election in the district in 2024, said the dispute is not about him but rather people’s opportunity to have representation.
“People tell us that we are not who we once were,” Figures said of the South. “That is true, but we certainly aren’t where we need to be," he said.
Alabama House Speaker Nathaniel Ledbetter, a Republican, said that the Louisiana ruling provided an opportunity to revisit a map that was forced on the state by the federal court.
“People tend to forget what happened. When this thing went to court, the Republican Party had that seat, congressional seat two,” Ledbetter said last week. “There’s been a push through the courts to try to overtake some of these red state seats, and that’s certainly what happened in that one.”
Shalela Dowdy, a plaintiff in the Alabama redistricting case, said the fight will continue inside and outside of the courtroom. A three-judge panel has scheduled a May 22 hearing on a request to try and stop Alabama from switching maps.
“We are not going down without a fight. We are not going back to Jim Crow maps,” Dowdy said.
The Rev. Bernice King speaks during a voting rights rally, Saturday, May 16, 2026, in Montgomery, Ala. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
A man sings a spirtual song during a voting rally, Saturday, May 16, 2026, in Montgomery, Ala. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
The State capitol is seen during a voting rally, Saturday, May 16, 2026, in Montgomery, Ala. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
A protestor holds a sign of the late Georgia Congressman John Lewis during a voting rally, Saturday, May 16, 2026, in Montgomery, Ala. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
A man sings a spirtual song during a voting rally, Saturday, May 16, 2026, in Montgomery, Ala. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
A protestor holds a sign of the late Georgia Congressman John Lewis during a voting rally, Saturday, May 16, 2026, in Montgomery, Ala. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
U.S. Sen Corey Booker, D-NY., has his photo taken during a voting rally, Saturday, May 16, 2026, in Montgomery, Ala. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
People gather during a voting rally, Saturday, May 16, 2026, in Montgomery, Ala. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
U.S. Sen Corey Booker, D-NY., has his photo taken during a voting rally, Saturday, May 16, 2026, in Montgomery, Ala. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
Aaron McGuire sings a spirtual song during a voting rally, Saturday, May 16, 2026, in Montgomery, Ala. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
