The Braves would never say it publicly, and neither would the Nationals and Stephen Strasburg. But for now, the team from Georgia clearly has the upper hand on the team from the nation’s capital and particularly its marquee pitcher.
The Braves beat the Nationals and Strasburg again Saturday, knocking him out with four consecutive singles in a four-run fifth inning and cruising to a 6-2 win that clinched the series at Nationals Park. It was the Braves’ 19th win in the past 25 games against the Nationals, and they’ll go for a sweep of the three-game series Sunday in the road trip finale.
Julio Teheran gave up a two-run homer to ex-Brave Adam LaRoche in the first inning, but he lasted seven innings and didn’t allow another runner past first base until the Braves built a 6-2 lead. It was their fourth consecutive win since an opening-day loss at Milwaukee.
“You never want to give Strasburg too much of a cushion,” said Braves second baseman Dan Uggla, whose two-run single in the fifth provided a 4-2 lead. “But Julio, he didn’t have his best stuff tonight but he battled and competed. That’s what we expect out of him every time. We had all the confidence in the world that he was going to hold them right there, and he did.”
Teheran (1-1) threw 111 pitches and allowed two runs, three hits and four walks with six strikeouts. He also helped his cause with two hits including an RBI single.
With their seventh win in as many April games against the Nationals over two seasons, Atlanta (4-1) moved a game ahead of them in the National League East standings and remained a half-game behind first-place Miami. The Braves are 9-2 at Nationals Park since the beginning of last season, including sweeps in two of three series.
Strasburg was charged with eight hits and six runs (three earned) in 4 1/3 innings and fell to 3-5 with a 3.86 ERA in 13 starts against the Braves. The hard-throwing right-hander is 26-15 with a 2.90 ERA in 64 starts against everyone else.
The Braves scored two unearned runs in the fourth inning after a two-out throwing error by third baseman Ryan Zimmerman, then pounded Strasburg in the fifth.
“It happens to all of us,” Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said of the error. “When you give outs away or you walk people at the major league level, you’re looking for someone to put up a big, big number against you.”
The Braves hung one the next inning on Strasburg, who lasted five innings or fewer against the Braves for the sixth time, including three of his past four starts. He’s 0-2 in six games against them since the beginning of the 2013 season, and the Nationals are 2-4 in those and 6-15 overall against the Braves during that period.
Teheran (1-1) hit a tying, opposite-field RBI single in the fourth inning, and the young Colombian worked out of potential trouble in almost every inning. Washington’s leadoff hitter reached base in five of the first six innings, but only scored once, in the first inning on the LaRoche homer.
“That was the biggest mistake I made in the game,” Teheran said of the homer. “Then after that I was just focusing on getting people out and trying to keep my team in the game. And that’s what I did. They were making plays for me and I got motivated.”
In the fifth and sixth innings, the Nationals were thwarted by Teheran after their first two batters reached in each inning. Braves center fielder B.J. Upton caught Bryce Harper’s line drive and threw home to nail Jose Lobaton for an inning-ending double play in the fifth, and Teheran retired three in a row in the sixth after starting the inning by hitting Jayson Werth and walking LaRoche.
“Any time you can keep runs off of the board, it’s always a good thing,” Upton said. “And definitely in that situation, when they can really get some momentum and get themselves back in the game. Yeah, it definitely felt good.”
Gonzalez sent Teheran back out to pitch the seventh inning after he’d thrown 97 pitches through six.
“That’s something that I wanted,” Teheran said. “I just want to go out there and stay in the game as long as I can. I think he saw that in me and he let me go out for the seventh inning. I had thrown a lot of pitches, and even though I didn’t have my best (stuff), I just tried my best.”
The brothers B.J. and Justin Upton had two hits apiece, each doubling his previous season total. Freddie Freeman and Chris Johnson also had two hits apiece as the Braves got eight hits from the second through fifth batters in the order. Freeman reached base all five times he came up.
While Teheran wiggled out of jams, Strasburg came unraveled against a Braves team that was a league-worst 1-for-13 with runners in scoring position before going 5-for-11 Saturday.
Strasburg usually has problems pitching in Atlanta heat, but Friday he struggled on a night when the first-pitch temperature was 51 degrees. He has allowed 63 hits and 27 earned runs in 63 career innings against the Braves, and has 25 walks and 77 strikeouts against them, including three walks and six strikeouts Saturday.
Uggla’s two-run single in the fifth inning put the Braves ahead 4-2 and made him 12-for-30 with 10 RBIs against Strasburg, including two home runs.
“It’s just one of those things you can’t explain,” Uggla said of his results against Strasburg. “Just for whatever reason, when I’ve made contact the ball’s found some holes.”
Uggla’s hit was the third of four consecutive singles after Freeman’s one-out walk — the third walk in as many plate appearances for Freeman Saturday against Strasburg.
Chris Johnson and Justin Upton each singled to load the bases, and Uggla lined a ball through the left side on a 1-0 curveball to give the Braves their first lead. They haven’t relinquished a lead this season.
“It was great,” Uggla said of multi-hit burst. “We haven’t really been lighting it up offensively. We’ve been getting enough done to win games, but we haven’t really been lighting it up. So it was nice to get some hits with guys in scoring position and on base, that kind of stuff.”
Ryan Doumit followed with another RBI single that chased Strasburg from the game, and Andrelton Simmons greeted reliever Aaron Barrett with a sacrifice fly that made it a 6-2 lead and closed the book on Strasburg.
