Reynaldo Lopez was up to 92 pitches after he worked his way out of a two on, no-out jam in the Braves’ half of the sixth, then Jayson Werth extended his on-base streak to 42-straight games with a leadoff single in the Nationals’ half of the inning, and scored from second after a wild pitch when Danny Espinosa singled to right, 7-1.
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To make things tougher though, injuries are beginning to pile up for Dusty Baker and the Nationals. “It’s a really good offensive ballclub and you’ve got to make them earn everything they get”.
Atlanta Braves starting pitcher Tyrell Jenkins delivers during the first inning of a baseball game against the Washington Nationals, Sunday, Aug. 14, 2016, in Washington.
“It’s been a couple of years since I’ve been part of a win here”, Freeman said. “Once that happened it kind of went downhill from there. That can’t happen and it’s something I’ve got to work on”.
Washington Nationals’ Daniel Murphy (20) celebrates a two-run home run with teammate Anthony Ren …
Rob Whalen (1-1) surrendered six runs and six hits over five innings in his third big league start. Atlanta scored one run in the eighth and four in the ninth – and might have had more if not for some over-aggressive baserunning.
Erick Aybar doubled to left to drive in two runs, but was thrown out at third, 7-6. that’s as close as the Braves got as Melancon locked it down. A pair of walks to pitcher Tanner Roark and Harper sandwiched around a hit by Turner put the Nationals in business with one out in the inning. He stepped to the plate for his first at-bat in the bottom of the first and sent an opposite-field double off the wall in left, scoring Ben Revere to give his team a quick 2-0 lead. In 92 career games against the Nationals, he’s hitting.327 with 26 doubles, 11 homers and 49 RBIs.
Washington Nationals outfielder Bryce Harper (neck) was a late addition to the starting lineup Sunday against the Atlanta Braves.
Harper was not in the Nationals’ original lineup, but was inserted in his customary spot in right field about 90 minutes before the game.
On Saturday, General Manager Mike Rizzo explained Harper wasn’t on the 15-day disabled list because nothing is structurally wrong with Harper and they’d rather wait it out than lose Harper for a week when he could perhaps be ready to play sooner.
Roark (13-6) scattered five hits while yielding one run.
Washington is a heavy -280 favorite at home and the Over/Under (O/U) for this matchup is set at seven runs. “That says a lot about him, and that gives us a little extra boost in the lineup and in the game”.
In the fifth, Turner added a single and Revere followed with his second triple of the night. The No. 3 prospect in Washington’s organization according to MLB.com, the 22-year-old Lopez features an outstanding fastball in the mid-90s with a sharp curveball.
The three runs were one more than Jenkins allowed in his previous 18 innings over three starts.
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Roark improved to 4-0 with a 1.65 ERA over his last four starts. He has pitched at least seven innings in eight of his last 10 starts. After a day off Monday, the Braves begin a two-game set at home against Minnesota on Tuesday.
