Thirteen a Lucky Number As Atlanta Braves Beat Nationals Again

The Atlanta Braves and Washington Nationals continued their three-game set on Tuesday night in game two of the series.

Winners of twelve straight games, the Atlanta Braves sent Max Fried to the mound while the Nationals countered with Jackson Tetreault, who was making his Major League debut after Stephen Strasburg was placed back on the injured list with a rib injury.

The Braves offense gave Tetreault a very rude welcome to the majors on Tuesday as home runs from Dansby Swanson, and back-to-back jacks from Travis d’Arnaud and Marcell Ozuna highlighted a seven-run barrage by the Braves offense through the first three innings against the young Nationals hurler.

The Nationals scrapped back into the game in the bottom of the third when they put up three runs and closed the gap to 7-3.

The Braves hit back-to-back homers for the second time in the game in the top of the sixth when Orlando Arcia and Michael Harris II took Andres Machado out of the park, extending the lead to 9-3 and for all intents and purposes putting the game away.

The Atlanta Braves won their thirteenth straight game on Tuesday, beating the Washington Nationals, 10-4.

The threat of a hangover of sorts after losing Ozzie Albies to a fractured foot last night never materialized as it was business as usual for the Atlanta Braves.  Atlanta built a big lead early and cruised to lucky number 13 against an undermanned Nationals club.

After striking out the first first five hitters he faced, Max Fried had to battle the rest of the way.  Fried’s command was not as sharp as we have come to expect from him and he also took a comebacker off of his foot in the bottom of the fifth that didn’t help things either.

But the Braves offense has been performing at another level in Washington.  The offense has hit five home runs in each of the first two games and have an excellent chance to replicate that feat tomorrow as Erick Fedde will take the hill for Washington, a pitcher the Braves have hit hard in recent meetings.

Michael Harris II was one of a number of standouts in tonight’s game.  In addition to solidifying the Braves defense since his arrival, Harris II has been getting more and more comfortable at the plate and finished the game just a triple short of a cycle.

The Braves catching corps continues to produce as well.  Just a year removed from the position being a weak spot in the lineup, d’Arnaud and William Contreras continue to rake and are making a strong case to both make the National League All-Star team this summer.

While the Braves’ winning streak has not come against the strongest of competition, Atlanta is doing exactly what good teams should do, dominate teams they are better than.

The Braves go for their fourteenth win in a row tomorrow as they play the final game of the three game series with Washington.

The Nationals will send the aforementioned Erick Fedde to the hill while the Braves go with Spencer Strider in Wednesday’s series finale.  First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 pm EST.