Atlanta Braves pound the fences and strike zone; thrash Nationals
The Braves came into Nats Park tonight after handing them the division title on Sunday. Then they reminded their hosts that the season isn’t over yet.
On Freddie Freeman‘s 28th birthday. the Atlanta Braves rapped out a lot of presents for him, led by a shutdown performance over 7 innings from Julio Teheran.
Teheran scattered 7 hits and 2 walks while keeping the Nationals off the scoreboard. He was helped out when his catcher – Kurt Suzuki – threw out Howie Kendrick on a failed steal attempt. He was helped out via a brilliant pick-off of Treat Turner, and he was helped out by a ’round the horn double play as their newest prospect Victor Robles was schooled by T-Rex.
Only one runner reached third base, and that didn’t even last long. It was a well-controlled game by the Braves’ rotation leader.
But the Bats…
Nick Markakis took the collar tonight… 0 for 5. That wasn’t the worst news of the night (maybe), but he was the only starter without a hit.
- Ender Inciarte: two doubles, RBI
- Ozzie Albies: 2 singles and a homer, RBI, stolen base.
- Freddie Freeman: A single, double and long homer (443′), 3 RBI
- Matt Kemp: early RBI single.
- Kurt Suzuki: double, RBI
- Johan Camargo: 2 doubles
- Dansby Swanson: double
- Even Julio Teheran: single and RBI
A run in the first, 3 in the 3rd, single runs in the 4th and 6th. Two more in the 7th. 14 hits.
Maybe the Nats fans will forgive them for an ‘off day’ after clinching. Maybe the fact that Bryce Harper was out (still… with no real date for return) had something to do with it.
Or maybe the Braves simply came to play tonight, continuing the momentum from their highly successful Marlins series.
The Hold My Breath Part
At the end of the 6th inning, Ender bounced a ball toward first. In an effort to elude a tag, he opted to dive toward the base.
In the process, he hurt his left (throwing) hand… probably his thumb. He was down for a bit, struggling to remove his batting glove while looking like there was noticeable pain involved.
After the commercial break, we were all surprised to see him not only okay, but standing in center field – still in the game.
His next at bat looked like he could have been trying to protect that hand with a looping swing… that resulted in a single to center field. Actually it should have been a single… Michael Taylor misplayed it into a double.
Still – keep an eye out for this, for Ender probably wasn’t 100% with that hand.
The Finish
Luke Jackson has a 1-2-3 8th inning. With just 14 pitches, Snitker opted to run him out again for the 9th. After a weak popout to second, a single, and a deep flyout to right, the aformentioned Mr. Taylor reached on a single to deep short – putting another runner on third. Pedro Severino then ended the game with a weak grounder to short..
Next: Can we put this one to rest? Please?
7:05 PM Wednesday evening for the second game in this 3-game set. Luiz Gohara and Max Scherzer are the scheduled starters.