For a division race that’s all but over, somebody forgot to tell the Braves and Nationals.
A wild finish was only appropriate after Saturday’s wild start, in a game that started with a plunking and a Stephen Strasburg ejection and ended 5 1/2 hours later with an Adam LaRoche home run in the 15th inning for an 8-7 Nationals win.
The Braves, who trailed from the first inning until the last out of the ninth, had tied the game on a stadium-rocking two-run homer by Jason Heyward to force extra-innings. By the time the game ended at 12:49 a.m. Sunday morning, the two had played another six innings in the longest game of the season for either team.
The Braves were out of position players, and Tuesday’s scheduled starter Kris Medlen was into his third inning of work when LaRoche got a hold of a 1-2 curveball for his 18th home run of the season.
“It’s easy to get up for when you’ve got your team scratching and clawing back into the game,” said Medlen, the converted reliever, who was making his first relief appearance since July 25, 2012. “I’ve pitched in extra-inning games before out of the pen, so once you experience it once, you want to get in there and win the game and be a part of it.”
Medlen had allowed two base-runners in the 14th and watched Andrelton Simmons turn a jaw-dropping inning-ending double-play on a ball he first broke away from on a bunt play. But the Braves went quietly in the bottom of the 14th against reliever Craig Stammen, who pitched three scoreless innings.
Dan Haren, the Nationals’ scheduled starter for Tuesday, allowed a Chris Johnson single but nothing further in the 15th to win it.
The Nationals snapped a six-game losing streak to the Braves and are still 14 ½ games back in the NL East.
“We played like the team that was up 15 ½ games going in and they played like the division champs of last year,” said Heyward, who homered twice, including a leadoff shot against Strasburg. “Always makes for a fun series.”
The Braves kept their composure after Strasburg plunked Justin Upton in the first inning in retaliation for Bryce Harper being hit twice Friday. They didn’t react after Strasburg threw back-to-back wild pitches behind Andrelton Simmons in the second inning which drew the first ejection of Strasburg’s career.
Both teams recognized Strasburg’s problem in the second inning was a command issue, though home plate umpire Marvin Hudon had little choice but to eject him, given how it looked and the first-inning warnings he’d issued.
“When I came in the first thing I said to Stras (was), ‘Are you hurt? Is something wrong with you?,’” said Nationals manager Davey Johnson, who also got ejected since both dugouts had been warned. “He said ‘No, I’m just a little out of sorts.’”
Neither Strasburg or Mike Minor had gotten their team out of the second inning, leaving their bullpens to cover 27 1/3 innings combined –13 1/3 innings for the Braves (four earned runs) and 14 for the Nationals (five earned runs).
Minor was having command problems of his own, walking four batters in a career-low 1 2/3 innings, and allowed two-run singles to both Wilson Ramos and Jayson Werth.
“I just couldn’t locate,” Minor said. “Couldn’t throw a quality pitch.”
They Braves trailed 4-1 when Minor left in the top of the second inning but used four home runs to rally back. Heyward collected his fifth career-multi-homer game, Brian McCann hit a two-run shot and Freddie Freeman added his 15th home run of the season in the eighth.
“It was just a weird game,” Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said. “But I’m really proud of our guys to just battle back.”
The Braves and Nationals had appeared to settle their differences in the first inning. Strasburg hit Upton in the backside with a first-pitch fastball, and Upton immediately took off for first base like he’d been expecting it.
“We thought maybe it was going to happen,” Minor said. “Then when it did, it was just over with. There was no thought of retaliation or anything like that.”
Strasburg missed the strike zone with all seven of his pitches in the second inning, including a walk to the first batter Jordan Schafer. So the Braves didn’t take it as purposeful when Strasburg threw three consecutive wild pitches with Simmons at the plate - including two that were nowhere near - allowing Schafer to circle the bases.
“None of us really know what was going on,” Minor said. “It didn’t look intentional. He was really erratic. I saw the ones that missed Simmons by like a foot. Everything was a little off.”
