Atlanta Braves Fall to the Nationals 7-2

Tuesday night was a reminder that Baseball is a long season and that no regular season game is really bigger than any other. The day after Strasburg Mania struck Turner Field, less than 20,000 fans made their way out to the ball park to see an uninspiring performance from the Home Team.

The Nationals defeated the Braves 7-2 Tuesday behind a great pitching performance from Craig Stammen. Stammen baffled the Braves over seven and a third while allowing the Braves only two runs. Stammen was just back up from Triple A where he was optioned to make room for Strasburg. On Tuesday night he seemed to put it all together.

Offensively the Braves didn’t do much. Of their five total hits, four of them were from Martin Prado and Gregor Blanco who had two hits each. Melky Cabrera added an RBI double in the eighth to finally chase a tiring Stammen from the game.

Derek Lowe‘s roller coaster season continued on the mound for the Braves as he never did really look comfortable to me. He lasted five and two thirds innings while scattering eight hits and allowing four runs. Give the Nationals some credit as they were able to bang out eleven hits against the Braves the biggest of which was a Josh Willingham seventh inning home run off of reliever Peter Moylan that made the score 6-1.

Luckily the Florida Marlins defeated the New York Mets so the Braves were able to maintain their one and a half game lead in the Eastern Division. The Braves will be going for a series win tonight as Jair Jurrjens (0-3, 6.38) makes his first appearance since April 29th having recovered from an injured hamstring. He will be opposed by Nationals starter J.D. Martin (0-3, 3.03). The first pitch is slated for 7:10 ET at Turner Field.