When the Braves’ B.J. Upton, Tommy La Stella, Freddie Freeman and Justin Upton each hit a home run in Friday’s 7-6 win against the Nationals, it marked the first time the Braves had homers from each of the first four hitters in their lineup in the same game since 1997.
The quartet that pulled off the feat in ‘97: Jeff Blauser, Michael Tucker, Chipper Jones and Fred McGriff.
It couldn’t have been much more unexpected than Friday, given that the Braves had not hit a home run in their past six games and had totaled four homers over their previous 13 games (3-10 record).
They hit that many in the first three innings Friday against Stephen Strasburg, who has been a seemingly improbable punching bag for Braves hitters in recent years. Strasburg is a career-worst 3-6 with a 4.62 ERA in 15 starts against Atlanta, and 34-23 with a 2.94 ERA in 85 starts against everyone else.
The right-hander is 1-3 with a 6.99 ERA and seven homers allowed in seven starts at Turner Field, his highest ERA at any ballpark where he’s pitched more than once.
Before Friday, the Braves’ last multi-homer game was July 12 at Chicago in the penultimate game before the All-Star break, when Chris Johnson homered twice and Mike Minor once in an 11-6 Braves win.
It had been more than seven weeks since the Braves had a multi-homer game at Turner Field, when they hit two against the Phillies on June 18, with Evan Gattis and Ryan Doumit hitting them off Roberto Hernandez.
Friday marked the Braves’ sixth multi-homer game in their past 16 matchups with the Nationals, including a pair of four-homer games against them at Turner Field.
