A series dominated by Braves starting pitchers concluded with their ace allowing four times as many runs as his previous three colleagues combined.
The Braves couldn’t complete their first ever four-game sweep of the Nationals, dropping the series finale Sunday 9-4. It snapped their franchise-record 13-game home winning streak and overall nine-game streak.
“If you’d have told me we’d have an 8-1 homestand these nine games we had, I’d have taken it anytime,” manager Brian Snitker said.
The matchup of dueling aces, Mike Soroka and Max Scherzer, didn’t meet the hype. Washington attacked Soroka early, with Adam Eaton knocking a two-run homer that put his Nationals up two batters into the afternoon.
Soroka would allow another pair of homers in the ensuing innings. Yan Gomes planted a change-up into the seats in the second frame. Juan Soto homered a fastball in the third. The right-hander settled in to throw another three innings, all scoreless, but the damage was done.
“It’s part of the learning curve,” Snitker said. “He gives himself a chance. He doesn’t doubt himself. He trusts his stuff all the time. It’s probably just a little aggression. Might need to be a little more aggressive starting out because as the game went on, his stuff picked up really good. It’s things he’s just going to continue to learn. I loved the way he finished.”
After not allowing multiple homers in any career start prior to Sept. 2, Soroka has served up five homers in his past two outings. He’s allowed 13 on the season, still the fewest in the National League and tied with Tampa Bay’s Charlie Morton for fewest in the majors.
Soroka’s first-inning ERA is 4.15 (12 earned runs over 26 innings) opposed to a 2.38 ERA across his other frames. The 22-year-old has been brilliant, a first-time All-Star, but it’s fair to acknowledge his recent homer-prone struggles and early inning results.
“Bad pitches that got hit,” Soroka said regarding the recent homers. “It’s going to happen. Like I said, previously, I did a better job missing out of the zone and in spots where I wasn’t going to get hurt. So it’s up to me to get those pitches back on those corners, 1-0 fastballs left up over the plate, they’re going to get hit. That’s no surprise. That’s on me to get the ball down again and miss in the right spots.”
Before Soroka’s outing, Braves starters allowed just one run across 19 innings against the Nationals. Max Fried went seven scoreless Thursday, Dallas Keuchel added six scoreless Friday and Julio Teheran scattered one run over six innings Saturday.
Also unlike the other meetings, the Braves’ offense had no response for Washington’s pitching. The Braves defeated Patrick Corbin and Stephen Strasburg, but they couldn’t overcome Scherzer, who tossed six innings with one blemish - a Matt Joyce solo homer.
“I don’t know what pitch I was supposed to hit off (Scherzer),” catcher Tyler Flowers said. “None of them, because he executed every one of them on me. When you do that, you get the humans out. The Freddie Freemans are a little more challenging but the other seven or eight guys, you’re going to get them out when you execute pitches and that’s what he did the whole time out there.”
The Braves were outhit 17-7, with Joyce collecting the only two knocks before the ninth. Charlie Culberson snapped an 0-for-26 streak with a homer in the final frame.
Despite the loss, this series should be regarded as a resounding success for the Braves. They leave the weekend up nine games with a magic number of 11 to clinch the National League East. The Nationals had their best remaining opportunity to gain ground and instead lost two games in the standings.
Sunday’s loss did prevent the Braves from equaling their 2018 win total. They’re 89-55 with 18 games remaining and sit three games behind Los Angeles for homefield advantage in the National League, pending the Dodgers’ result against the Giants.
The Braves have more of the NL East to come during their 14-game stretch against the division. They play four in Philadelphia beginning Monday and finish their season series with the Nationals in Washington next weekend.
