Atlanta, Georgia - The Atlanta Braves, last year’s World Series champs, received their brand-new championship rings and christened them with a strong win over the Cincinnati Reds on Saturday night.

The Braves defeated the Reds in a close game 2-1, for their second-straight win on Saturday night, making that two out of three games won in this opening series of the 2022 MLB regular season.

Feeling the high off of just receiving their spectacular, one-of-a-kind World Series rings, the Braves shot out early with a two-run first inning, establishing an early lead.

Atlanta would spend the next several innings getting on-base numerous times, but were never able to score more runs.

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In fact, Braves first baseman Matt Olson (28) was tagged out trying to score at home two separate times during the course of the game.

If not for those tag-outs, the Reds might’ve had a tougher time trying to catch the Braves on the scoreboard. But it’s not like Cincinnati had much offensive success in this game either.

The Reds finally got one run off of an RBI single that came in the top of the ninth, with two outs. But it wasn't enough.

Braves starting pitcher Kyle Wright threw six innings of shutout ball with six strikeouts on his way to earning the win, while the Reds' Vladimir Gutierrez only lasted through just over four innings on his way to the loss.

Both teams will finish their four-game set on Sunday afternoon.

Out west, the Los Angeles Angels earned their first win of the season by way of a low-scoring 2-0 shutout over the Houston Astros on Saturday night.

This game featured two top-level pitchers as two-time Cy Young Award winner and former AL MVP Justin Verlander took the mound for Houston against former All-Star Noah Syndergaard, who was making his first start with the Angels.

After a scoreless first inning, the Angels scored first with just one run in the bottom of the second and held that lead for the next five innings.

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Meanwhile, Verlander did his best to keep his team in the game after only allowing that single run, but the Astros batters couldn't get much going at all. Houston’s hitters had only one hit through the first six innings. Their second hit came from a throwing error to first base by the Angels. They were the only two Astros hits in the entire game.

The Angels tacked on one more run when their three-time AL MVP slugger Mike Trout blasted a solo shot in the eighth for a little insurance, locking up LA’s first win of the year.

Syndergaard got his first win as an Angel after putting in 5 and ⅓ innings of shutout work, while Verlander had to take the loss for the run he allowed, despite striking out seven.

The final game between the Astros and Angels in this series is on Sunday afternoon.