Braves: LHP Manny Banuelos (1-3, 3.33) tossed 5 2-3 scoreless innings against Washington on July 2 in his first start of the season.
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Werth, who was moved to the top of the order recently and went 1 for 5 with a three-run home on Sunday, is 23 for 71 (.324 AVG) in seventeen games as the Nationals’ leadoff hitter this season, with seven doubles, four home runs, eight walks and 16 runs scored atop the order. Bryce Harper was expected to come into his own, Max Scherzer had just signed a ridiculously lucrative contract during the offseason, and the rest of the team looked solid enough to make the Nats a World Series contender.
Thursday night’s Major League Baseball action featured only six games but no shortage of action – headlined by a remarkable performance from Bryce Howard as the Washington Nationals beat the Atlanta Braves 15-1.
The battle for first in the NL East begins Monday when the New York Mets visit the Washington Nationals.
Braves: OF Maybin was removed before the fourth inning because of lingering vision issues with his left eye.
“I like everything about the ballgame except the ending”, Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said. Houston holds a three-game lead over the Rangers in the West, but they also have to watch out for the streaking Angels, who remained 5 1/2 games back with a win over the Rangers.
The Braves will finish below.500 for a second straight season for the first time since 1989 and 1990.
And that was only the beginning of the Atlanta Braves’ latest blowout loss.
Washington has now won five straight games and completed its first four-game sweep of the season.
Atlanta starter Julio Teheran continually pitched out of trouble, allowing a run and five hits and four walks in six innings.
Ramos had an RBI double, Harper walked with the bases loaded, Zimmerman had a sacrifice fly, and Escobar added a two-run single to make it 7-1.
“Trying to keep my head on a swivel”, he said of the celebration. Then he gets one pitch to hit and he hits it. That’s what he’s doing this year, and he’s doing it every single day.
Zimmerman sat out of the series finale with the Braves, but he had a 10-game hit streak going before Sunday over which he was 18 for 41 (.439 AVG) with four doubles and six home runs.
The Mets, who dropped two of three in Miami to narrow the gap, send out a slumping pitcher of their own in Jon Niese (8-10, 4.17).
With his third-inning single, Atlanta’s A.J. Pierzynski tied Hall of Famer Bill Dickey (1,969) for 10th place all-time in hits among catchers. It was the first career walk-off homer for Taylor, who has been hobbled by a sore leg and missed the past few games.
Gonzalez said he hoped his pitchers would learn from the Nationals right-hander. Behind in the count a lot. “It gives him an opportunity to get into at-bats”. If they keep going at the pace they are on, they will not only overtake the Mets for first place, but they will bury the Mets in the standings.
“It feels like we’ve got a long way to go”, Williams told reporters.
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The Mets lost in the 9th inning, and the Nationals won, bringing the deficit to be overcome to four games, just in time for a three-game series against the division leader. “Now we have got plenty of work to do”.
