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Atlanta Braves: 3 Takeaways From Tuesday Night’s Loss To Washington

By Steven Teal

ATLANTA, GA - MAY 28: Ronald Acuna Jr. #13 of the Atlanta Braves steals second base ahead of the throw to Brian Dozier #9 of the Washington Nationals in the first inning of an MLB game at SunTrust Park on May 28, 2019 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Todd Kirkland/Getty Images)
ATLANTA, GA - MAY 28: Ronald Acuna Jr. #13 of the Atlanta Braves steals second base ahead of the throw to Brian Dozier #9 of the Washington Nationals in the first inning of an MLB game at SunTrust Park on May 28, 2019 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Todd Kirkland/Getty Images) /
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ATLANTA, GA – MAY 28: Stephen Strasburg #37 of the Washington Nationals pitches in the first inning of an MLB game against the Atlanta Braves at SunTrust Park on May 28, 2019 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Todd Kirkland/Getty Images)
ATLANTA, GA – MAY 28: Stephen Strasburg #37 of the Washington Nationals pitches in the first inning of an MLB game against the Atlanta Braves at SunTrust Park on May 28, 2019 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Todd Kirkland/Getty Images) /

2. Strasburg Was Sharp

Washington Nationals pitcher Stephen Strasburg has had mixed success when pitching against the Atlanta Braves.

In his career, Strasburg is 11-11 with a 4.07 ERA when facing the Braves but he didn’t seem to have any trouble with the offensive attack on Tuesday. Strasburg racked up 11 strikeouts across 7 innings pitched against Atlanta.

He accomplished this through some really good fastball command and his curveball had a lot of depth to it as well.

Can’t say I would have blamed Dave Martinez if he wanted to let Strasburg pitch the entire game. The Nationals bullpen is one of the absolute worst in all of MLB.

They’ve been struggling with inconsistency and injuries to key players but that surely doesn’t cover up how bad their bullpen is.

The Nationals bullpen carries an ERA of 7.12 with 186 hits and 126 runs allowed. The Nationals bullpen also carries a 1.66 WHIP as well. Those are not very promising numbers and probably aren’t surprising to Atlanta Braves fans.

Braves hitters just couldn’t seem to figure out Strasburg but the moment that the Nationals bullpen arrived in the 8th inning, Atlanta was given new life.

Josh Donaldson would lace a double down the left field line against Kyle Barraclough and was later driven in by none other than Austin Riley, who has been on fire. Unfortunately, Sean Doolittle would strike out the side to preserve the win for the Nationals.

The Atlanta Braves had bullpen woes of their own but that’s another piece for another time.

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