Braves pitcher Tim Hudson has seen enough of Evan Gattis to believe the rookie catcher has a bright future, and to know he wants to do what he can to help him out.
They helped each other plenty Saturday, when Gattis hit a two-run homer and Hudson pitched seven crisp innings in a 3-1 win against the Washington Nationals, pushing the Braves’ winning streak to eight games and majors-best record to 10-1.
With a runner on and two outs in the third inning, Gattis swung at Stephen Strasburg’s high heat — a 96-mph fastball out of the strike zone — and drove it over the left-field fence at Nationals Park, giving the Braves a 2-0 lead.
“The guy’s up there hacking,” Strasburg said of Gattis, who has homered in three of four games. “I threw one at his neck, and he tomahawks it out. You don’t really face a guy like that ever. You don’t really have any book to go off of.”
Gattis, 26, hadn’t played above Double-A before winning a major league job as a non-roster invitee at spring training. Now “El Oso Blanco” — Spanish for the White Bear — is hitting .333 in 30 at-bats and leads major league rookies with four home runs and eight RBIs in eight games.
“Threw him a high fastball, and he turned on it,” said manager Fredi Gonzalez, whose Braves have a three-game lead in the NL East and the franchise’s best start since 13-1 in 1994. “That’s why he hits fourth. He can do that. His swing is short, and when he makes contact, the ball’s got a chance (to go out). That ball just stays hit.”
Hudson (2-0) allowed four hits, one run and no walks with three strikeouts in seven innings, improving to 15-5 with a 2.60 ERA in 27 starts against the Nationals. Danny Espinosa’s fifth-inning homer was the only run for the Nationals (7-4), who had a 6-0 home record before the Braves came to town. Atlanta goes for a series sweep Sunday.
In Friday’s series opener, the Braves trailed 4-0 after six innings and rallied to win 6-4 in 10 innings.
“Glad we got the win yesterday — it was huge,” Gattis said. “Everybody was happy we won (the series opener), but nobody was too excited. Last night everybody was, ‘get some sleep, have a 1 o’clock game, let’s go at ’em again tomorrow.’”
The Braves beat Strasburg for the fourth time — twice as many losses as he has against any other team. He was charged with five hits and two unearned runs in six innings Saturday and fell to 3-4 with a 3.59 ERA in eight starts against Atlanta.
Hudson, who had two of the hits against Strasburg, was asked by a Washington writer if he felt going in that he would need to be “fairly perfect” to win against Strasburg.
“I don’t think you have to be perfect, at all,” Hudson replied. “He’s a kid. He’s going to make mistakes, just like he did today. I think it’s definitely not going to be easy. But this is the big leagues. You have big league hitters on both sides of the field.
“You make pitches, you get outs. And we made a few more pitches today than they did.”
And one less crucial fielding mistake. Third baseman Ryan Zimmerman’s error with two out in the third allowed Justin Upton to reach base. Upton stole second, and Gattis clubbed Strasburg’s 1-1 pitch out of the park.
Gattis is 5-for-15 with three home runs and seven RBIs in the past four games. Hudson thinks the big Texan is going to stick around and thrive in the majors.
“I think so, for sure,” he said. “I don’t think there’s a person in major league baseball that’s not pulling for him. I know we all are. His story’s pretty remarkable. He’s came through a lot. I’m hoping when he catches me that I can make him look as good as I can. He’s that kind of guy. He wants to learn, he’s eager to get better and he has some talent. It’s not a fluke.”
The Braves are riding the hot bats of Gattis and Justin Upton while waiting for some others to get going: Dan Uggla (.189 average), Jason Heyward (.086) and B.J. Upton (.105) have combined for four homers and eight RBIs.
That included an RBI by Heyward on a bases-loaded grounder in the ninth inning, when he hustled to first to avoid a potential inning-ending double play. Heyward also made a spectacular diving catch on Adam LaRoche’s fly ball down the right-field line to end the seventh inning.
Craig Kimbrel pitched a perfect ninth and struck out Jayson Werth to end the game for his sixth save in as many appearances.
