A year ago on June 2, the Braves lost to Stephen Strasburg and fell to 0-4 against the Washington Nationals, having been outscored 24-10 by their new rivals in the NL East. It would get worse, too, before it got better. The Braves would lose 10 of their first 14 against them in 2012.
Then something happened. Atlanta won its last four against Washington in 2012, then won the first five this season, including a sweep at Washington in April. If the Nationals had a mental advantage over the Braves in the first 4-1/2 months last season, that is no longer the case.
Ramiro Pena hit a two-run homer in the first inning and B.J. Upton homered in the second to put the Braves ahead for good in a 6-3 win Sunday to close a series at Turner Field. The Braves increased their division lead to 6-1/2 games over the Nationals, and improved to 11-3 in their past 14 games against the defending NL East champions.
“When we play fundamental baseball, we feel like we can hang with anybody,” said catcher Brian McCann, whose two-out RBI single in the fifth inning proved to be decisive. “We’ve gotten good pitching. Obviously that’s what wins ballgames, and we’ve been getting a lot of that lately.”
Nothing was more encouraging for the Braves than some big moments for Upton, who interrupted his season-long slump with two hits Saturday including a 10th-inning single for the walk-off win, then hit his fifth homer Sunday.
“That’s the B.J. Upton that we want to see,” Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said. “Sometimes it just takes a ball up the middle, like the first hit he got last night, a little dribbler that gets you going.”
Said Upton: “Like I said last night, still got some work to do. But definitely feeling a lot better up there, and hopefully it only gets better as the season goes on.”
After losing the series opener, the Braves won the last two to improve to 18-7 at Turner Field, including 10-2 with a 2.13 ERA in their past 12.
Paul Maholm (7-4) limited the Nationals to five hits and three runs (two earned) in six innings, with no walks and four strikeouts. After Freddie Freeman’s bases-loaded, two-run double in the sixth provided a three-run cushion, three relievers pitched a perfect inning apiece, with Craig Kimbrel getting his 17th save.
“We got some big hits, timely hits,” said Gonzalez, whose Braves finish the homestand with a three-game series that starts Monday against surprising Pittsburgh (35-22). “The bullpen was (strong) the whole series. Even going back into the Toronto series, they’ve done the job. And we’ve been able to add on some runs.”
Despite being without injured setup men Eric O’Flaherty and Jonny Venters, who are out for the season, Braves relievers are riding a streak of 20-2/3 consecutive scoreless innings.
“I can’t say enough good things about what they’ve done,” McCann said.
Braves pitchers allowed just two walks and six earned runs in 28 innings against the Nationals, who’ve lost 10 of 15 games.
The Braves have won all five of their three-game home series this season.
“It was a big series to win,” Gonzalez said. “It was nice to come back after the first game that we lost, when we had some opportunities we didn’t take advantage of.”
The Braves didn’t take advantage of all or even most opportunities Sunday, going 2-for-10 with runners in scoring position. But they capitalized enough times when it mattered.
After Andrelton Simmons reached on a throwing error by Nationals third baseman Ryan Zimmerman to start the Braves’ first inning, Pena hit the next pitch over the right-field fence. Just like that, the Braves had a 2-0 lead against rookie Nathan Karns, a right-hander pitching in his second major league game.
The Nationals answered with two in the second inning, including one unearned run after Maholm dropped the ball when Freeman tossed it to the pitcher covering first base.
Ian Desmond’s sixth-inning solo homer for the Nationals cut the Braves’ lead to 4-3, but Freeman gave the relievers some breathing room with his bases-loaded drive that landed on the padding atop the left-field fence and bounced back on the field. The Braves wanted it to be ruled a grand slam, but umpires checked the replay and determined the ball bounced directly back onto the field after hitting the top of the fence, and didn’t carom off a wall behind the fence.
“I blame it on the wind,” joked Freeman, the big first baseman whose bat continued to sizzle.
He’s 17-for-42 (.405) with three homers and 10 RBIs in his past 10 games, and has also hit .394 with five extra-base hits and nine RBIs in his past nine games against the Nationals.
