3 takeaways: Atlanta Braves quickly start spoiling Washington’s last stand
1. The Return of St. Nick
While most of the Atlanta Braves hitters did their usual exceptional job of working counts to insure that the starting pitcher – Max Scherzer (10-6, 2.65) – would exit as soon as possible, there was a “new” member of the lineup who was obviously champing at the bit to get going.
Nick Markakis ripped the first pitch he’d seen in 7 weeks up the middle for a single.
Sky is blue, water is wet, Markakis got a hit.
Think that was enough? Nah… for his second AB, Nick took a pitch… then roped the second one for a double… later scoring the game’s 1st run.
3rd time up? Yep… he hit the third pitch. This time it was a sacrifice fly that plated the third run for Atlanta.
I think he’s good to go.
Bottom Lines
Overall, this was Atlanta taking care of business… again. They absorbed 6 strikeouts from Scherzer – even looking foolish at times – but also got to him.
Mad Max’s line was only for 5 innings, 99 pitches, seven hits, 2 walks, and 3 earned runs.
The offense then continued the greetings against the 3 Nationals relievers, touching them up for 2 more runs.
Atlanta’s bullpen (Chris Martin, Shane Greene, and Jerry Blevins) continued the shut down of the Washington offense: 2 hits in 3 innings… no runs. A strikeout finished it.
It was a convincing shutout: 5-0 the final.
The lead in the NL East is back to 9.5 games. The Braves record is 92-57. 13 games remain; the Nationals have 16 to go… with a lot fewer days off.
Next. Rome on the Range. dark
Atlanta’s magic number to clinch is now 6. It’s getting close!