Just when it looked like the Braves’ rallying days had faded and the Nationals’ dominance against them would continue unabated, the Braves flexed some muscle, the Nats got sloppy and a game turned around in the late innings Friday night.
But after scoring six runs in the sixth through eighth innings including a two-run, game-tying double from Freddie Freeman in the eighth, the Braves lost 7-6 when Jim Johnson gave up a run on two singles and a walk in the ninth inning. An eighth inning throwing error by third baseman Gordon Beckham proved costly.
“That was a great rally,” said interim manager Brian Snitker, whose Braves have lost six consecutive games and eight of seven. “I thought we were going to pull it off…. We threw the ball around a little bit tonight, made some mistakes that cost us runs, which we don’t normally do. We’re usually very good about staying away from those kind of things.
“It happens, but it’s something that’s not characteristic of these guys.”
Braves top starter Julio Teheran returned from a stint on the disabled list and worked five innings, allowing three runs, six hits and three walks in 90 pitches and getting no decision to remain winless this season at Turner Field.
The Braves fell to 1-10 against the Nationals for the season including four straight losses in the past seven days.
“We’ve been playing good baseball for a couple of months, just came up a little short today,” Freeman said. “Julio coming off the DL was big for us, getting five innings under his belt. It’s going to be good for us going down the stretch.”
Trailing 5-0, the Braves staged a comeback fueled by home runs from Nick Markakis and Ender Inciarte in the sixth and seventh innings and an opposite-field gapper from Freeman to cap a three-run eighth.
The Nats had scored a run in the top of the eighth on a two-out, two-base throwing error by Beckham. Washington defenders returned the favor in the bottom of the inning with two infield errors.
Braves rookie shortstop Dansby Swanson led off the eighth with a double, his first extra-base hit in his third major league game. After a fielder error and a run-scoring fielder’s choice by Inciarte, pinch-hitter Jeff Francoeur reached on a throwing error and Freeman followed with his double to tie, 6-6.
Swanson’s infield single in the ninth inning gave him his second two-hit game.
Freeman had a would-be tying homer robbed in the fourth inning when center fielder Ben Revere made a sensational leaping catch with his glove above the fence.
“Turner Field strikes again,” Freeman said, smiling. “This place takes away homers with the best of them. Twenty more games till we get maybe a better hitters’ park. Unbelievable catch.”
Braves right fielder Nick Markakis then reached above the wall to take a potential homer from Clint Robinson to start the fifth inning. “Clint came up to me and goes, I need those more than you,” Freeman said.
Teheran returned from the DL — he’d been out three weeks with a back-muscle strain — and had his season-long bad luck and home-field misfortunes continue. An infield hit and a bloop single figured big in a two-run Nationals fifth inning.
“I feel good,” Teheran said. “I feel normal, the way I did at the beginning of the year.”
The Braves trailed 5-0 before Inciarte’s two-out, two-run homer in the sixth against Tanner Roark, who left after giving up a solo homer to Markakis with one out in the seventh. Markakis has nine homers including seven in his past 37 games.
Braves rookie reliever Madison Younginer was charged with two runs and three hits in the sixth, one of those runs coming on the first error by Swanson, an off-target throw to first base with two on and none out. (It was ruled a hit, with the runner scoring on the throwing error.)
Swanson also bobbled a ground ball on the back edge of the infield in the fifth, which was ruled a hit, and had a bloop hit bounce off the heel of his glove in the same inning when he raced to shallow left field and appeared to trip just as he was lunging for the ball.
Teheran got no decision to remain 0-5 with a 3.22 ERA in 13 starts at Turner Field, compared to 3-4 with a 2.49 ERA in nine road starts. His run support was already the worst among major league starters before Friday at 2.87 runs per nine innings pitched.
After posting a 2.46 ERA and .183 opponents’ average in his first 16 starts, Teheran has a 4.28 ERA and .289 OA in six starts in July and August, his schedule in that span disrupted by a thigh infection and back strain.
The Nationals jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first when rookie Trea Turner, quickly becoming a Braves nemesis, led off with a double, advanced on a sacrifice and scored on a Bryce Harper groundout. After Wilson Ramos’ two-out double, Teheran recorded 10 outs in the next 11 batters, including a third-inning double play on left fielder Matt Kemp’s strong throw to first base ahead of the retreating Turner, who had strayed too far on Revere’s fly out.
