The Braves knew there would be nights like this with a rookie closer, but that didn’t make it any easier to endure. Again.
Craig Kimbrel gave up two runs in the ninth inning to blow a 3-1 lead, and the Washington Nationals scored four runs in the 11th off Scott Linebrink for a 7-3 win over the Braves on Wednesday night at Turner Field.
“Everybody went out there today and played good, the entire team, until we got to the ninth," said Kimbrel, who gave up three hits and a walk in his third blown save in 11 opportunities. "I didn’t do my job, and we ended up losing the game.”
Linebrink (0-1) was tagged for a two-run double by Ian Desmond and two-run homer by Jayson Werth, fattening the veteran's ERA to 7.50.
The Nationals improved to 5-1 in extra-innings games; the Braves fell to 1-4.
“It’s a tough loss, there’s no way around that," said Eric Hinske, whose seventh-inning leadoff homer increased the lead to 3-1. "We lost the opening game with Huddy [Tim Hudson] on the mound, and you definitely want to come back and get a big win the next day. It just didn’t work out tonight.
"Really not much else to say. We’ve got a game tomorrow, and we’re going to try to come back out and win tomorrow.”
The Braves, who’d won seven of eight May games before the Nationals came to town, must win Thursday night to avoid getting swept in the three-game series. Since Oct. 1, 2009, they are 10-17 against Washington and 101-76 against everyone else.
"That’s just the game of baseball sometimes," Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez saide. "It’s a cruel game, it really is. We had a chance to win it, after a tough game we played the night before. It just wasn’t meant to be. But I liked the way we were in position to win it. We just couldn’t get those last three outs.”
Chipper Jones led off the Braves’ 11th with his 505th career double, moving into sole possession of third place on the all-time list for switch-hitters. There weren’t many fans around to see it from an announced crowd of 16,692.
The Nationals loaded the bases in the ninth beginning with a leadoff single by Laynce Nix, the third hit of the game for a guy who had a three-run homer in Washington’s 7-6 win Tuesday night.
“I’m leaving some balls over the plate, and good hitters are going to hit it," Kimbrel said. "The leadoff hit to Nix, I hung a curveball and he went the other way with it. And then both the base hits up the middle were [pitches] right down the middle. Just bad execution by me.”
Kimbrel struck out the next batter before No. 8 hitter Jerry Hairston Jr. singled to center. With runners at first and second, he walked veteran pinch-hitter Matt Stairs, nearly hitting him with a pitch.
Alex Cora followed with a single that bounced off second base and drove in two runs to tie the game. Kimbrel got out of the inning by striking out Desmond and Werth, stranding two runners. But the damage was done.
Kimbrel is 0-1 with three blown saves and a 4.22 ERA in his past 10 appearances, after going 4-0 and converting 5-of-5 saves with an 0.34 ERA in his first 27 major-league appearances.
“It’s part of baseball," said Hinske, coming to the defense of the 22-year-old closer. "You can’t save every game. I don’t think there’s too many seasons that go by without blowing saves. I just told him afterward, don’t lose your confidence. Don’t lose your swagger. We’ve got your back. You’re going to have to do it again tomorrow.
"All we can is put some runs up on the board and hope the bullpen holds it. Tonight it didn’t happen.”
Gonzalez was asked if this was just part of the deal with having a rookie closer, accepting that there will be nights like this and hoping there aren't many.
“Yeah," the manager said. "You hope the learning curve is there, and I think it is. This guy’s a talented, young, bright guy. So we’ll keep running him out there and putting him in situations, and see how it goes.”
Brian McCann staked the Braves to a 2-0 lead in the first inning with a double off the right-center wall that drove in two.
Hinske's homer provided a two-run cushion, but it wasn’t enough for Kimbrel, who gave up two runs for the first time in 38 major-league relief appearances over two seasons.
McCann, who leads the NL with a .500 average with runners in scoring position, stretched his hitting streak to 11 games and added a two-out double in the eighth inning.
Braves starter Tommy Hanson didn’t dominate the way he has recently, but the right-hander worked out of trouble and was in line to win his fourth consecutive start before Kimbrel’s blown save.
Hanson was charged with one run and five hits in 5-2/3 innings, with two walks and three strikeouts. He received no decision and is 4-1 with a 1.67 ERA in past six starts, allowing five hits or fewer in each.
“It was one of those days where I could tell from the very beginning that I didn’t have my best stuff," Hanson said. "It was one of those days where you’ve got to go out there and compete and battle. I knew that from the get-go. I think everybody knew that from the get-go.
“I never really got in a rhythm. But I mean, I did my best to keep runners from scoring. The results were what they were.”
Nix had an RBI single with none out in the second inning, giving the Nationals three hits before Hanson recorded his fourth out. He allowed only a single between that point and Nix’s two-out double in the sixth.
Rookie Cory Gearrin came on in relief and struck out Danny Espinosa.
Hinske’s home run was his third in 10 at-bats. He filled in for injured right fielder Jason Heyward; it was Hinske’s first start in right field since 2009. He’s 7-for-17 with two doubles, three homers and seven RBIs in his past seven games.
Hinske more than held his own defensively, too, making a fine running catch at the end of the warning track in the right-center gap to rob Roger Bernadina of extra bases to start the fifth inning.
McCann also made a big defensive play when he threw out Hairston attempting to steal third base for the third out in the seventh inning.
“This is the way the game goes," Gonzalez said of the missed opportunity, when everything seemed in place for a win. "You feel like when they get thrown out at third base in the seventh, in a one-run game with two outs, then Venters goes out there in the eighth and gives a nice inning, we get the insurance run … you feel pretty good.
"But you can’t hold the ball in this game [basketball analogy]. You’ve got to throw it over the plate sooner or later. You can’t call time out. We couldn’t get the last out.”
Hairston led off the seventh inning with a single against reliever Eric O’Flaherty, who retired the next three batters and trimmed his ERA to 0.96.
Natonals lefty John Lannan was charged with two runs and five hits in six innings, and received no decision to snap a string of three consecutive losses. Lannan had been 3-0 with a 2.76 ERA in three starts against the Braves since August.
Not surprising, considering how the Nationals have fared against the Braves in recent years. Since the beginning of the 2008 season, they are 32-26 against the Braves and 172-289 against everyone else.
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