Hanson strong in loss to Nationals

Washington — In his sixth major-league start, Tommy Hanson learned about bad luck.

The pitcher who won when no one else for the Braves could against the Red Sox and Yankees had to settle for a no-decision in a 5-3 loss Saturday after seven dominant innings went for naught against the Nationals.

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AP

Braves rookie pitcher Tommy Hanson departed with a 3-1 lead after seven innings and was in line for his fifth straight victory before the Braves bullpen blew the lead.

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Hanson extended his scoreless streak to 26 innings before Adam Dunn sent a fastball into the second deck for his 300th career homer. Hanson was in control for the other 104 of his 105 pitches in seven three-hit innings.

Mike Gonzalez could not say the same, walking two batters and giving up a hit in the eighth inning while pitching for the third day in a row. He loaded the bases and watched all three runners score in a four-run rally by the Nationals.

“It was one of those days where your fastball may not have so much zip, but you can get away with breaking pitches,” said Gonzalez, who took his first loss of the season. “But today I wasn’t throwing strikes. None of my pitches were working for me.”

The Braves’ season-high five-game win streak came to a close on consecutive run-scoring hits by Ryan Zimmerman, Dunn and Josh Willingham.

That spoiled a 3-1 lead for Hanson, who was gunning for his fifth win in six major-league starts. His lead disintegrated in a matter of three pitches from Peter Moylan and Eric O’Flaherty.

“That’s the most frustrating part right now,” said Gonzalez of interrupting the Braves’ momentum. “I could really care less about how I did. It’s just Tommy goes out there and does such a great job; obviously our offense is doing really well. We’re playing really good ball right now. Hopefully this doesn’t put a chink in what we’re doing.”

The Braves will try to salvage the series today with Derek Lowe on the mound.

Hanson, fresh off winning National League rookie of the month, came one inning shy of matching Steve Bedrosian’s 27 scoreless innings as a Braves rookie pitcher in 1982.

Dunn’s homer also ended a stretch of three consecutive scoreless starts for Hanson, the first such feat by a Braves rookie since 1900.

“His last two [starts] are just really, really good,” said Braves manager Bobby Cox. “His control was outstanding, ton of first-pitch strikes, ton of strikes, a real tight [strike] zone again.”

Other than the homer, Hanson gave up a pair of singles — one on a dribbler up the middle and another on an infield hit. He walked only one and struck out five.

Hanson’s earned-run average spent most of the afternoon in a free fall, whittling down to as little as 2.06 before settling at 2.25. This is after he gave up seven runs (six earned) in his major-league debut June 7.

He did everything Saturday but win.

“That’s one of those things where it happens,” Hanson said. “There’s nothing we can do about it now. The bullpen has definitely been a strength for us all year. Just got to try to go out tomorrow and pick up the series.”