The Braves sent ace Tim Hudson to the mound Friday night to put a stop to their four-game losing streak against a Nationals team he had owned throughout his career.
What seemed like the perfect formula fell apart on a perfectly weird night for Hudson.
He gave up four runs in the first inning – more than he’d allowed in all but two of his previous 23 starts against the Nationals – and still he outlasted Washington left-hander Ross Detwiler. But Hudson’s night imploded again in a three-run seventh inning and a 7-4 loss.
“It’s frustrating,” said Hudson, who gave up all seven of his runs with two outs. “We should have won the ball game. I was a couple pitches from throwing a shutout, but instead I gave up seven runs. It’s just one of those nights.”
The Braves’ losing streak has ballooned to a season-high five games, topping their 0-4 start to the season. They fell two games behind the Nationals in their first showdown with the NL East leader.
The trouble for the Braves now is they’ll have to figure a way to rebound against Stephen Strasburg and Gio Gonzalez, and the Nationals are a combined 15-3 when those two are on the mound.
“We knew we were going to have some rough times during the season,” said Martin Prado, a rare hot hitter in the Braves lineup, who went 3-for-5 with two doubles and a triple. “I’d rather have those moments right now and not at the end of the season.”
Hudson had retired 17 of 19 batters, including two in the seventh, when he walked relief pitcher Chien-Ming Wang on five pitches. Steve Lombardozzi doubled to right to put runners second and third. Rather than calling on the bullpen, manager Fredi Gonzalez left Hudson in and he basically pitched around left-hander Bryce Harper to bring up right-handed Ryan Zimmerman, who was 9-for-49 (.184) against Hudson but had doubled in the first inning.
Hudson was one strike away from getting out of the bases-loaded mess but left Zimmerman an 0-2 pitch over the plate, and he used it to clear the bases with a double. Hudson was saddled with a season-high seven runs, after allowing only three over his previous three starts.
“Obviously right on right is a better situation, even though Zimmerman is a great hitter,” Hudson said. “I’ve just got to make a better pitch 0-2…. Obviously the kick in the (gut) is walking the pitcher. That was where things started going wrong.”
Hudson is 158-27 in games when his team scores four or more runs. He was at 108 pitches on his final pitch to Zimmerman.
“I had the guy 0-2,” said Hudson. “I just didn’t hold up my end of the bargain on that pitch. Then (Jason) Heyward goes deep to put the fourth run on the board, so that made it hurt even worse. We should have won the ballgame. We get four runs. That lead should hold up.”
Both Gonzalez and Hudson said afterward they thought it was his game to win or lose at that point.
“Obviously there are all kinds of options that run through your head,” Gonzalez said. “But with the matchup with Zimmerman there, you felt like it was good. That 0-2 ball got over the plate on him. That ball breaks another inch, we wouldn’t even be talking about that. I thought the way Huddy pitched, he deserved to be out there for that at-bat.”
Prado did his best to get the Braves back in the game offensively, leading off two innings with extra-base hits and scoring twice on base hits by Matt Diaz, who drove in the Braves’ first three runs. Heyward added a solo home run in the eighth.
The Braves had limped home from a four-game sweep in Cincinnati and were still without Chipper Jones (contusion), whom they placed on the disabled list after the game. They had planned to go without Brian McCann Friday night, but he was forced into action when David Ross got hurt in the second inning.
McCann, who missed three games with flu-like symptoms, entered the game after Ross strained his right groin checking his swing on a second inning walk. Ross is day-to-day, and the Braves will call up a minor league catcher, possibly J.C. Boscan from Triple-A Gwinnett, to help cover until McCann and Ross can get back to full strength.
The Braves fell to 7-16 without Jones in the lineup, compared to 19-5 with him.
“That’s a tough loss, but we’ve got to move on,” Prado said. “Every single guy in this locker room has the ability to do some damage, and I’m hoping from now on we can try to be good without Chipper.”
If there’s one team that doesn’t want to hear anything about playing short-handed, it’s the Nationals.
The Nats have sent 11 players to the disabled list already this season, including right fielder Jayson Werth and catcher Wilson Ramos. They’ve survived on the strength of their pitching and there’s more of that coming Saturday and Sunday with Strasburg and Gonzalez, who are both ranked in the top eight in the NL in ERA.
Hudson fell to 14-4 with a 2.35 ERA in his career against the Nationals. They cashed in on a pair of two-out two-run hits by Ian Desmond and former Brave Rick Ankiel in the first inning. Hudson thought he had Danny Espinosa struck out on a pitch inside but it was called a ball, and he hit him with his next pitch. Ankiel followed with a triple off the left center field wall.
