After piecing together a five-game home winning streak without scoring more than two runs, the Braves knew they probably couldn’t afford to fall behind early in a series finale against the Washington Nationals on Thursday night if they hoped to extend it. Not with a resurgent Stephen Strasburg on the mound.
This is not the version of Strasburg the Braves got used to knocking around to an inexplicable degree in previous seasons. Lately he’s been dominant against everyone, and that’s the pitcher the Braves saw in his final start against them last season and his only previous start against them this season.
And that’s the was the guy they saw again Thursday, when Strasburg limited the Braves to six hits and one walk in six scoreless innings of a 3-0 win that thwarted the Braves’ shot at a three-game sweep and spoiled a third consecutive night of exceptional pitching from a Braves rookie starter.
This time it was Ryan Weber, who allowed five hits and no walks with a career-high 10 strikeouts in seven innings. In his fifth big-league start and last of the season, Weber (0-3) was outstanding.
“Couldn’t have asked for anything more,” Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said. “Most strikeouts he ever had in his career, I think was eight or nine in (rookie-league) Danville. He gave us every opportunity to win the ballgame today. We played good baseball, other than that eighth inning.”
Weber rebounded splendidly from a career-worst outing Friday at Miami, where he gave up seven runs and nine hits without making it out of the second inning.
“Especially after what happened in the last outing,” he said. “Being able to finish strong like that, it’s given me something to look forward to when I head into spring.”
Unfortunately for Weber and the Braves, one of the hits against him was Clint Robinson’s home run on a full-count pitch in the second inning for a 1-0 lead.
After Freddie Freeman pinch-hit for Weber with a runner on and one out in the seventh — Freeman flied out — Braves relievers gave up two runs in the eighth, both unearned after a throwing error by third baseman Adonis Garcia.
Garcia, who has seven errors since Aug. 22, filled in for Hector Olivera, who was was scratched from the lineup after reporting tightness in the elbow/funny bone area where he was struck by a pitch Tuesday.
Strasburg improved to 3-0 with no runs allowed in his past three starts against the Braves. He had his string of four double-digit strikeout games snapped, but his seven strikeouts included some big ones.
“It seemed like he just made his pitches when he needed to,” said center fielder Cameron Maybin, who had two of the Braves’ seven hits. “Both guys did a great job with going out and commanding the strike zone. Just one of those things where we couldn’t quite push one across when we needed to. We had some opportunities with two outs there.”
Other than Robinson’s homer, the Nationals didn’t have a runner advance past first base against Weber, while the Braves had runners in scoring position against Strasburg in the second, third and sixth innings, and came away empty each time.
In the second inning, they got a two-out walk from Jace Peterson and a single from Andrelton Simmons before Christian Bethancourt’s inning-ending fielder’s choice. In the third inning, Maybin singled with two out, stole second and went to third on a catcher’s throwing error before Nick Markakis lined out to center.
And in the sixth, Markakis and Garcia had consecutive one-out singles before Strasburg struck out Nick Swisher and Peterson consecutively to end the inning.
The Braves also had two on in the seventh against reliever Blake Treinen before Maybin grounded out to end the inning.
Having Strasburg quash rally hopes is nothing to be ashamed of, particularly in recent months. The Nationals ace had a 1.89 ERA and .168 opponents’ average in 12 starts before Wednesday, with 103 strikeouts and only 11 walks in 76 innings.
Spending more than a month on the disabled list in the middle of that span didn’t do anything to slow Strasburg, and he came into Thursday’s game red-hot — a 1.48 ERA and .144 opponents’ average in his previous four starts, with 50 strikeouts and four walks in 30 1/3 innings.
Plenty of Braves fans might have welcomed a series finale against Strasburg, who was 5-7 with a 4.01 ERA in 18 starts against Atlanta before Thursday, his highest ERA against any team he’d faced more than four times.
But in his past three starts against the Braves — one last September, one in June at Washington, and this one — Strasburg has allowed 15 hits and two walks with 20 strikeouts in 18 scoreless innings.
Bethancourt left the game after aggravating his recent left-thumb contusion on a fifth-inning strikeout.
