Nationals get best of Lowe, Braves

Washington — The Nationals’ post-game fireworks display exploded a couple of pitches prematurely Sunday, drawing a look into the Nationals dugout from Chipper Jones.

“I turned around to [manager] Manny [Acta], I said ‘You got one more pitch, bro,’ ” Jones said.

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AP

Derek Lowe lost for the fourth time in his past five starts. The right-hander lasted 5-1/3 innings, allowing four runs and 10 hits.

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But it was going to take more than a pyrotechnic slip-up to infuse the Braves with the kind of momentum the Nationals just sucked out of them.

Three pitches later, the Braves’ 5-3 loss to the Nationals was complete, and so was a body-blow of a loss in the series.

The Braves came to Washington riding a three-game sweep over the Phillies, only two games back in the NL East. But after beating the Nationals Friday night and leading them 3-1 Saturday, everything turned on an eighth inning blow-up by the Braves bullpen.

“Yesterday killed all of our momentum,” said Jones, whose ninth-inning walk Sunday was followed by a Brian McCann groundout. “Everybody was feeling good. We were upbeat, on a winning streak, everything was rounding into form. We didn’t show up in the eighth inning and all of a sudden all of the momentum stops. You give them a breath of fresh air, renewed hope to win the series with a good performance today, and lo and behold they did.”

Scott Olsen, who seems to be either really good or really bad against the Braves, was really good Sunday. He came within one out of a complete game in only his second start back after missing six weeks with a shoulder injury.

Derek Lowe was no match for him and watched his own struggles extend into a fifth start.

Lowe got knocked around for 10 hits — including two by Olsen — and was doing well to give up only four runs in 5 1/3 innings.

“That’s not your typical Lowe performance at all,” Braves manager Bobby Cox said. “He’s had a couple of them. The sinker sometime sinks. Other times it ends up in the middle of the plate.”

Lowe has had midseason slumps before, but he said this one moves him into uncharted territory. He’s allowed 22 earned runs in his last 23 innings pitched, dating back to a seven-run disaster June 14 in Baltimore.

“You’re normally going to have one bad game and a couple OK games, but not three disasters and one OK game,” said Lowe, who is 0-4 in his past five starts to fall to 7-7. “The main thing is high pitch counts and a ton of hits. That’s the most disappointing thing.”

Meanwhile, Acta stuck by Olsen even after he walked two batters in the eighth. Olsen answered by striking out Garret Anderson.

Olsen gave up a leadoff double in the ninth and a two-out homer to Nate McLouth, forcing Acta to turn to Mike MacDougal. MacDougal gave the Braves some hope, allowing a single to Martin Prado and the walk to Jones, but he got McCann to ground out to end the game.

Prado reached base five times Sunday, going 4-for-4 with a walk, and has hit .576 (15-for-26) in the last two series. He’s doubled in six consecutive games over that time. But the Braves failed to drive him in Sunday.

“We just got beat today,” Jones said. “They just out-pitched us, out-hit us, and played good defense. Yesterday was the one that hurt.”

After sweeping the Nationals in April, the Braves have lost back-to-back series to the pesky team from the bottom of their division. They are 11-15 against Washington dating to the start of last season.

“You can’t just look at their record and think you’re just going to go out and throw your gloves out there and win,” Lowe said. “The last three games have shown that.”