Atlanta Braves’ Tyrell Jenkins Has Off Night; Nats Beat Braves 11-9
By Dan Horton
Atlanta Braves get roughed by Nats. Tyrell Jenkins allows eight run fourth inning.
Braves’ starter, Tyrell Jenkins, got through one inning unscathed. That was about it.
In the second inning, after two out in the inning, Ryan Zimmerman, fresh off the disabled list, roped a laser shot over the left field wall.
The Braves quickly rebounded. They didn’t think waiting until the 8th inning was a good idea. A lead off double from Tyler Flowers and a bloop single from Jace Peterson put men on the corners.
A ground ball to SS from Chase d’Arnaud, who beat the wrap of a double play, scored Flowers to tie the game at one a piece.
The Braves added to the lead as Ender Inciarte hit a ground rule double to left-center. d’Arnaud had to stop at third. The next batter, Adonis Garcia, traded places with Inciarte. A 2-run doublw put the Braves up 3-1.
The lead was short lived. In the Nats half of the 4th, Nats second baseman Daniel Murphy, led off with a solo shot to right. Bryce Harper then walked and stole second. A base hit from Anthony Rendon scored Harper to tie things up at 3.
The wheels completely came off after that.
Jenkins then gave up the go ahead run after a hit to Zimmerman, Wilmer Difo knocked in Rendon after a single.
The Nats continued to light up Jenkins in the 4th. This time, Nats hurler Max Scherzer helped his own cause. A single plated Zimmerman.
Then the big blow came. With still one out in the inning, Nats rookie Trea Turner, who wasn’t nice to Braves pitchers in DC, launched a 3-run homer to make it 8-3.
Jenkins didn’t make it out of the 4th. Following the home run to Turner, Jayson Werth singled. That was the end of the night for Tyrell.
11. 90. 9. 17. Final
The Nats hung a 8 spot on Jenkins in the 4th inning alone. Things got no better after Jenkins left. Ryan Weber surrendered a single that bounced over Freddie Freeman‘s head. Werth proceeded to score on Harper’s single, closing the book on Tyrell.
Weber finally put out the flames in the 4th, getting Wilson Ramos to ground into a double play. The fourth inning was a nightmare, even by this season’s standards.
I was listening to game because of blackout restrictions, but I can only imagine that it was just as hard to watch as it was to hear.
In Scherzer fashion, Max shut down the Braves in the bottom half. It was a long night for Atlanta.
A quick top of the 5th from Weber was almost worthy of a standing ovation, after what seemed like an hour long 4th inning.
With 2 out in the inning, Rendon led off with a base hit. Consecutive ground outs moved Rendon to third and Scherzer legged out a grounder to SS that scored Rendon.
Atlanta tacked on a run on a wild pitch and a passed ball scored Inciarte to make it 10-4 after seven.
Pinch-hitting, Jeff Francoeur knocked in Flowers from third. Inciarte beat out a double play ball that scored Jace Peterson to make it 10-6.
The Nats pushed it back to a 5-run game in the ninth on a SAC fly to Inciarte, scoring Rendon.
Braves got one run back on a 2-out double from Peterson. A Freeman single and Flowers walk put men on. Freeman scored on the double.
A 2-run single from d’Arnaud made it an 11-9 game, still with 2 out in the inning. However, pinch-hitter Anthony Recker popped out to first to end the game pushing the Braves losing streak to 7 games.
The Braves try to salvage the final game of the series tomorrow afternoon. Joel De La Cruz (0-6, 3.72) goes for Atlanta. Gio Gonzalez (8-9, 4.28) toes the rubber for the Nats. First pitch is scheduled for 1:10 PM EST.