Drake Baldwin homers, but Braves win streak ends in loss to Nationals
With a loss Wednesday, the Braves will not close the season with 14 consecutive wins, although catcher Drake Baldwin’s National League Rookie of the Year campaign gathered steam.
On Wednesday afternoon, Baldwin homered for the 19th time this season, increasing his candidacy to be the franchise’s 10th Rookie of the Year, as the team lost 4-3 to the Washington Nationals at Truist Park.
The defeat ended the team’s 10-game win streak, its longest since 2022. In front of a sparse afternoon crowd, Braves starting pitcher Bryce Elder was effective, giving up three earned runs over seven innings. In his final start of the year, Elder continued his strong finish. His ERA for five starts in September was 3.13.
The Braves offense, which had hit .307 and averaged 7.5 runs per game during its win streak, managed six hits off the Nationals, although three were solo home runs.
The Braves (75-84) will conclude the season with a three-game series against Pittsburgh that begins Friday.
Baldwin’s 19th home run is second among NL rookies. Going into Wednesday’s game, Baldwin’s WAR (3.0) led all NL rookies while his .460 slugging percentage was highest among NL rookies with at least 400 plate appearances.
Baldwin homered in the bottom of the sixth, smashing a 3-1 fastball from Julian Fernández 419 feet to right center.
The solo shot cut Washington’s lead to 3-1. A Marcell Ozuna home run in the bottom of the eighth reduced the Nationals’ advantage to 4-2, and an Eli White home run to lead off the bottom of the ninth brought the Braves to within 4-3. Baldwin came to the plate with two out and a runner on first, but grounded out to second to end the game.
Baldwin’s main competition remains Chicago Cubs pitcher Cade Horton, who had a 2.67 ERA and an 11-4 record over 118 innings through Wednesday.
As of last week, Horton was given the best odds of winning the award by BetMGM ahead of Baldwin.
About the Author
Ken Sugiura is a sports columnist at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Formerly the Georgia Tech beat reporter, Sugiura started at the AJC in 1998 and has covered a variety of beats, mostly within sports.
