Nationals ace Max Scherzer rarely issues walks but the Braves earned two base on balls in the first inning. Opponents don’t have much success hitting for extra bases against Scherzer yet the Braves rapped three doubles in the second. Scherzer piles up strikeouts but the Braves kept putting his pitches in play.
Presented with these unexpected gifts, Braves rookie right-hander Tyrell Jenkins couldn’t make them count. The Nationals beat up Jenkins early and then held on late for an 11-9 victory on Saturday at Turner Field.
The Braves (44-79) lost their seventh consecutive game and ninth in 10, with an aggregate score of 76-43 during that stretch. The Nationals (73-49) beat the Braves for the fifth straight time in the last eight days and improved to 11-1 against them this season.
The bullpen had been the biggest problem for the Braves lately but this time Jenkins lost it with eight runs allowed in the fourth inning. The Braves scored six suns over the final three innings, including Chase d’Arnaud’s two-run single against Nationals closer Mark Melancon with two outs in the ninth.
Pinch hitter Anthony Recker popped out to end the game.
“That’s usually what happens in games like that, you look back and it’s that one inning that ends up costing you,” Braves interim manager Brian Snitker said. “It got away from (Jenkins) out there. After those first three innings I thought he was going to go seven. His stuff was crisp; his location was good. And then the stuff wasn’t so good, the location wasn’t so good and it kind of completely got upside down.”
After the Nationals roughed Jenkins up in his previous start, they sent him to the worst outing of his young career. He lasted just 3 1/3 innings and allowed nine earned runs and three home runs on Saturday, following the seven runs Jenkins allowed over 4 2/3 innings at Washington last weekend.
Staked to a 3-1 lead after two innings Saturday, Jenkins (2-4) blew up in the fourth when the Nationals batted around and eight of nine batters he faced reached base.
“The velocity decreased and the life on the pitches wasn’t as good,” Snitker said.
The barrage started when Daniel Murphy hit Jenkins’ first pitch of the inning over the wall in right. Jenkins gave back the rest of the lead when he walked Bryce Harper and Anthony Rendon hit a one-out, RBI single.
The next three Nationals batters also singled, with Wilmer Difo and Scherzer each driving in a run. Trea Turner’s three-run homer to left increased the lead to 8-3. Jayson Werth followed with a single that prompted Snitker to pull Jenkins.
“I just left the ball up a little bit and they got some hits, and then that Turner home run just kind of put the dagger in there,” Jenkins said. “They swung the bat well and I just let things kind of get away from me.”
The Braves had a chance to send Scherzer (13-7) to a loss.
Scherzer walked Adonis Garcia with one out before Freddie Freeman flied out on a ball hit hard to left field. Matt Kemp followed with a walk but Nick Markakis solid ground ball went to first baseman Ryan Zimmerman covering the line.
The Braves let Scherzer off the hook and Zimmerman hit a two-out, solo home run against Jenkins in the top of the second. But Freeman’s line-drive out was a harbinger of things to come as the Braves continued to hit Scherzer hard.
Tyler Flowers led off with a double against the wall in right-center field. Flowers went to third when the next batter, Jace Peterson, dumped a weak fly ball into left field. D’Arnaud grounded into a fielder’s choice that scored Flowers to tie the game.
After Jenkins struck out while trying to bunt, Ender Inciarte smacked a ball to deep left field that would have scored d’Arnaud if it hadn’t bounced over the wall for a ground-rule double. Garcia followed with yet another drive against the wall, scoring d’Arnuad and Inciarte.
“That’s typical, it seems like every time we face those upper-tier (starters) our guys rise to the occasion and they do have good at-bats and push the pitch count,” Snitker said.
Scherzer got out of that inning and then didn’t give the Braves much else. He retired them in order the third and fourth innings, stranded two base runners in the fifth, and departed with a 10-3 lead and one out in the seventh.
The Braves scored six runs over the final three innings against Nationals relievers but the Nationals added run each in the seventh and ninth. The Braves erased a five-run deficit against the Nationals on Friday before the visitors scored a go-ahead run in the ninth.
