The Braves had the national spotlight with ESPN in town and their best pitcher going Sunday night in Brandon Beachy against the Washington Nationals. But neither was enough to overcome what’s fast becoming an oppressive losing streak.
The ailing Braves had managed their first lead of the weekend series but fumbled it away with two unearned runs in the fourth inning and watched the Nationals work over their former teammate Livan Hernandez on the way to a 7-2 victory and a weekend sweep.
In three losses to the Nationals, the Braves have fallen from one game back to four in the NL East. They’re now in fourth place and 4-10 against division opponents this season.
The Braves hadn’t been swept in a series by the Nationals since the last four games of the 2009 season, when they finished the year with a six-game losing streak. The Braves’ current losing streak is seven games, their longest since dropping nine in a row in April of 2010.
“We need to figure out how we can bring as much intensity as we brought throughout the last week and try to bring more,” said Dan Uggla, who doubled and drew two walks. “We just haven’t as a whole been playing like we’re capable of playing. I know we’ve got injuries, but everybody’s got injuries. You’ve got to battle through it.”
Offensively the Braves and their makeshift lineup are still searching and found no traction against the Nationals’ new ace Gio Gonzalez. They managed only one hit in seven innings off him while striking out 10 times. They finished with only three hits on the night.
The Braves were going without Chipper Jones (calf contusion), Brian McCann (virus) and Freddie Freeman (vision issues) and turned to Michael Bourn for a spark on Sunday. The speedy leadoff man answered with a walk, a stolen base, a triple and two runs scored in the first three innings. But one false move in the fourth, aided by a Tyler Pastornicky error, turned the game around, and Gonzalez, now 7-1 with a 2.04 ERA, settled into a groove.
After giving up a suicide squeeze in the second, the power lefty retired 10 in a row before Uggla’s leadoff walk in the seventh.
“When he’s on like that it’s tough,” Uggla said. “But still we’ve got to find a way to try and scrape something across.”
Beachy struck out seven but walked four in five innings, including a pair sandwiched around Pastornicky’s error in the fourth. He allowed three runs, one but only one was earned, as his majors’ leading ERA remained at 1.77. He was out of the game after 105 pitches in his shortest outing since pitching five innings April 9 at Houston.
“I took a few steps backwards from where I want to be tonight,” said Beachy who’s been sick with a sore throat but wouldn’t blame that. “I didn’t control my fastball and that caused a lot of problems.”
Manager Fredi Gonzalez was hoping to get one more inning out of him with the bottom of the order due up, but Gonzalez came for him after he hit Danny Espinosa to lead off the sixth.
Patience was wearing thin for many among the sold-out crowd of 38,543 at Turner Field, who booed Hernandez after he gave up a two-run double on an 83 mph fastball to Steve Lombardozzi. Hernandez gave up four runs on four hits and a walk in the inning, allowing the Nationals to bat around.
“At that point, you don’t want to tax your bullpen,” Gonzalez said. “You feel like he can get through it.”
Nationals rookie phenom Bryce Harper hit his second home run of the series in the eighth off Hernandez and finished the weekend 5-for-11 (.455) with four walks, four runs scored and two RBIs.
The Braves were in search of a well-played game and on their way with two manufactured runs in the first three innings, including a well-executed squeeze play. But the 2-0 lead disappeared after Pastornicky’s miscue fueled a two-run answer by the Nationals.
He attempted a behind-the-back flip to Uggla at second base on a ball up the middle off Beachy’s glove, instead of doing to first for the sure out. Uggla, who had Adam LaRoche barreling in from first base, dropped the ball.
“That is a young shortstop trying to make something out of nothing,” Gonzalez said. “It’s not a real good play.”
Uggla took the blame afterward, saying he was the one trying to go for too much, thinking about getting a double play.
“Rather than just concentrating on getting one, I was going to try and be quick and get two right there, but I whiffed at it,” Uggla said. “One of those plays I made nine times out of 10.”
That left runners safe at first and second. Beachy walked the next batter to load the bases and ultimately gave up an RBI single to Jesus Flores and a sacrifice fly to the pitcher Gonzalez.
“If we make the play it’s a ‘webgem,’” Pastornicky said. “If we don’t, it’s the biggest play of the game.”
