Whether the Braves score a bunch of runs early or scratch out a few runs late, and whether they limit the Nationals to one run or allow eight, here’s what most recent games between the two teams have in common: The Braves win.
B.J. Upton homered in a four-run first inning and Alex Wood wiggled out of jams in four consecutive innings of a 6-3 win over the Nationals Saturday night at Turner Field, clinching the series and moving the Braves into a first-place tie with Washington in the National League East.
Freddie Freeman had three hits including an eighth-inning homer for the Braves, who’ve won 21 of the past 28 games against the Nationals, including nine of 10 in the past two Aprils. They’ll go for a sweep and the division lead in Sunday’s series finale.
“It’s nice to have two (wins) under your belt, and have a chance tomorrow to get greedy and see what we can do,” said manager Fredi Gonzalez, whose Braves have won seven of the past eight three-game series against the Nationals, and will send Aaron Harang to the mound Sunday against Gio Gonzalez to finish a six-game homestand.
Washington got more bad news late Saturday when X-rays revealed Ryan Zimmerman has a fractured right thumb that will sidelined the third baseman four to six weeks. He was hurt when he dove back to second base trying (unsuccessfully) to avoid a pickoff throw by Wood to shortstop Andrelton Simmons for the second out of the fifth inning.
That was a criticial out for Wood, who then struck out Adam LaRoche with a runner at third to preserve a 4-1 lead.
“Oh, huge,” said Wood (2-1), who was charged with six hits, one run and three walks in five innings, and had eight strikeouts. “I think I was coming out of the game after LaRoche. So it worked for me. I was able to get through five because of it, and I’m definitely glad it happened.’
He left early due to a high pitch count (102), but got the win and improved to 5-3 with a 3.12 ERA in 14 career starts, including a 1.57 ERA in four starts against the Nationals. Gonzalez said LaRoche would’ve been the last batter Wood faced, regardless. Because he got the out and got through five innings, he put himself in position for the decision.
Craig Kimbrel gave up an infield single in the ninth before converting his league-leading fifth save.
After Anthony Rendon started the game with a home run, the Braves answered with four runs in the bottom of the first inning on five hits, including Upton’s first homer and two-out RBI doubles by Justin Upton and Evan Gattis, who matched a career high with three hits.
“It’s been feeling better and better every day,” said B.J. Upton, who hear boos earlier in the homestand, but only supportive cheers Saturday when he had two hits and lined out in another at-bat. “Obviously started off kind of rough (this season), but it’s still early. Each day I’ve been feeling a little more comfortable at the plate.”
The Nationals put two runners on base with less than two outs in every inning from the second through fifth — without scoring a single run in that period. Washington’s leadoff man reached base in four of the first five innings, but the only one that scored was Rendon on his homer.
Damage control is nothing new to Wood, who had a .179 opponents’ average with runners in scoring position in his 33 career games (13 starts) before Saturday. Still, this was taking things to the extreme.
“Somehow I managed to get through five, don’t ask me how,” Wood said. “I don’t know if I could get through that way again, but we made it through.”
Run support certainly helped. After scoring a total of 15 runs in their first seven games, the Braves have collected 21 runs in their past four games, including at least three runs in an inning in each of those four.
They had a four-run inning each of the past two nights against the Nationals, and unlike Friday’s series opener, the Braves made the early lead stand Saturday.
One day after having his nine-game hitting streak snapped, Rendon started things off with a homer to center before many fans had even found their seats. He moved from the second spot to leadoff in place of Denard Span, who is on the seven-day concussion list after colliding with Dan Uggla on the basepaths Friday.
Braves hitters quickly let Wood know they had his back, batting around in the first inning while turning a one-run deficit into a 4-1 lead.
Upton’s first homer was a one-out shot over the center-field fence on a 1-0 fastball. The crowd roared as the center fielder circled the bases for the first time in 2013 and perhaps dented the confidence of Nationals starter Taylor Jordan.
Freeman followed with a two-strike single, and one out later Justin Upton wielded his hot bat for a line-drive double on an 0-2 pitch for a 2-1 lead. He had three homers in the previous two games.
Uggla kept the two-out rally going with an RBI single to left on an 0-2 pitch, the third two-strike hit of the inning. Gattis followed with an RBI double, pushing the lead to 4-1.
Justin Upton, Uggla and Gattis nearly repeated their first-inning sequence in the fifth, when Upton doubled with one out and again scored on an Uggla single. Gattis followed with his third hit, and the Braves loaded the bases when Simmons’ fly was dropped by right fielder Nate McLouth on the exchange, a point of emphasis for umpires this season.
The Braves had the bases full with one out and a chance to bury Jordan, but instead he struck out pinch-hitter Ryan Doumit and Jason Heyward, who is hitless in eight of his past nine games, including 0-for-19 against Washington.
The strikeouts contributed to boosting Wood’s pitch count quickly. He threw 16 pitches to record consecutive strikeouts of LaRoche and Ian Desmond to end the third inning with two runners on. Wood was up to 78 pitches before recording his 10th out, Sandy Leon’s fly to center for the first out of the fourth inning, again with two on.
“You’d like to at least have one or two quick (innings),” Wood said. “It definitely got a little old tonight, having to go out there and pitch with guys on first and second every single innings. But it was one of those things where somehow we made it through and made some pitches when we needed to. (Braves) bats were there tonight, so that definitely didn’t hurt.”
The lefty got out of the fourth-inning jam when he struck out the pitcher for the second out and Harper was caught too far off second base by catcher Gattis, who fired a throw to the shortstop to start a 2-6-5 rundown for a double play.
