Braves Swept by the Nationals
By Fred Owens
Alex Wood’s 31 pitch first inning had Braves fans wondering if they should turn the game off and watch a movie. Instead Wood turned it around and the Braves came back to make a game of it. In the end the bullpen gave up a lead and the Nationals swept the Braves.
Braves Swept in spite of Wood’s Effort
To say Woody had a bad first is a little mislead. It’s true that he gave up three runs but two of those came after Cameron Maybin muffed a catch on a deep fly ball from Bryce Harper. I’m certain that if you ask Maybin he’d agree he should have caught the ball. That was followed by a double from Ryan Zimmerman that brought Harper home. From the second inning on however Wood looked more like the 2014 version than what we’ve seem so far this year.
For the first time this year the Braves used the same lineup on consecutive days and it seemed to work as the Braves fought back in the second as Maybin and Wood each drove in a run and in the third Jace Peterson singled to center to tie the game. After that shaky first Wood retired nine in a row before an Espinoza single broke the streak. Wood left the game with a man on first and two out but Brandon Cunniff came in to finish that inning and end the threat.
Wood’s line on the day was 6 2/3IP 8 hits, 3 runs, 7 strike outs and one walk. He also had his fist multi-hit game at the plate going 3 for 3 with an RBI. Prior to today Wood was 3 for 68 with two walks and 48 strikeouts.
With Jason Grilli day-to-day because of an undisclosed injury Cody Martin got the call for the eighth. A single and a walk brought Harper up but Martin induced a soft popup to Simmons. Ryan Zimmerman hit a soft ground ball single to center to tie the game but Maybin caught Jason Werth going too far off second and Simmons tagged him out. Wilson Ramos doubled to right to give the Nationals the lead but was tagged out trying to stretch it into a triple ending the inning. The Braves went quietly in the ninth giving the Nationals a series sweep they didn’t really earn.
That’s A Wrap
We saw today how far the Braves bullpen has fallen. For the past five years teams didn’t want to see the bullpen gates open. This year with the exception of Grilli its batting practice time when our pen enters. To be fair to skipper Fredi Gonzalez he had few options, with Grilli injured his next choice to close would be Jim Johnson and that is enough to send Braves fans to the liquor cabinet.
The Braves are supposed to be built on pitching but the starters have been a coin flip and the bullpen a disaster. Meanwhile a lineup that no one expected to score runs has proven itself resilient and unwilling to surrender when they get behind. Today the hitting stars – aside from Wood of course – were Freddie Freeman who went 2 for 3 with a walk and 2 runs scored and Jace Peterson who finished 2 for 4 with a run scored and an RBI.
Next up the Braves travel to Cincinnati to visit the reds for a three game stand.