allowed just an infield single in the seventh.īut in the eighth, the Braves got the sequencing working against Kyle Finnegan. He gave up back-to-back singles with two outs, but Arcia bounced back to him to end the inning. In the fifth, the Braves did nothing with a Harris leadoff single.Īfter the Nationals went ahead 2-1, Mason Thompson continued flummoxing the Braves.In the fourth, a single and a walk put two on for Arcia, but he struck out to end the inning.In the first, Austin Riley and Sean Murphy both walked, and were wild pitched into scoring position, but Eddie Rosario struck out by waving at three straight bounced curves.That was all the scoring off Gray - the Braves wasted numerous other chances. They scored their first run in the second, as Ozzie Albies drew a leadoff walk, moved to second on a wild pitch, moved to third on a five-hole wild pitch, and eventually scored on a groundout by Orlando Arcia. Though Gray threatened to walk the world (and walked, arguably, a continent, with four free passes in five innings), the Braves didn’t really make good contact off him, especially not with men on base. While the pitching managed the Washington attack just fine, the bats were very much stymied early on by Josiah Gray. Kirby Yates had himself a nice inning in the eighth, with two strikeouts and a groundout. McHugh got out of the sixth without further trouble, and then also escaped a two-on jam in the seventh with no damage. Meneses was the first obstacle for McHugh, and he barreled a double into the left-center gap to give the Nationals their second run and lead. Unfortunately for the Braves, that infield error and overturned call came to roost almost immediately. It’ll be interesting to see what happens with him going forward - there’s no reason not to start him again, and there’ll be an xFIP-versus-xwOBA battle for his forward-looking success playing out in front of our eyes. Smith-Shawver struggled to command his slider, and his fastball was more a get-me-over than a dangerous whiff-inducer, but he did fine against a diminished lineup. However, only three balls in play against him were hard-hit (i.e., above 95 mph), and two of those were the sequence that got him chased in the sixth. The xFIP for Smith-Shawver didn’t look great tonight, as he allowed a bunch of balls in the air and managed just a 2/2 K/BB ratio. That was it for Smith-Shawver’s debut, as he gave way to Collin McHugh. Initially, both runners were ruled out, but on replay, the call at second was overturned, as Lane Thomas running on the play paid dividends for Washington. Riley threw to second, and the relay went to first. This time, the Braves were in a pseudo-shift, and the hard-hit grounder was fielded by Austin Riley playing near the traditional shortstop location. He then recovered nicely in the fifth - an 11-pitch inning with two groundouts sandwiching a strikeout.Īfter a fielding error started his sixth, Garcia hit another grounder. He then issued a five-pitch walk, but was able to escape the jam with two balls hit weakly in the air. Luis Garcia reached on a leadoff infield single, and Smith-Shawver fell behind Joey Meneses before getting him to ground into a forceout on 3-1. Smith-Shawver ran into trouble in the fourth. From there, he cruised for a while, facing the minimum through the third inning, and allowing just a walk that was erased on a double play. The game started in unfortunate fashion for the rookie right-hander, as a bloop single that popped out of a diving Michael Harris II’s glove, a throwing error on a steal, and a second bloop single made it 1-0 Nationals before Smith-Shawver had even retired a batter. All in all, Smith-Shawver’s start was probably a little different than what most people expected, but it was ultimately enough to keep the Braves in the game and squeak out a win late. The big story heading into this game was the rotation debut for AJ Smith-Shawver, who flew up the minor league ladder in the spring. After trailing two separate times in this one, the comeback kids saddled up once again and sequenced two runs in the bottom of the eighth in order to run the streak to six, with five consecutive comebacks. Coming into tonight’s series opener against the Washington Nationals, the Atlanta Braves had a five-game winning streak in which the last four games were all come-from-behind wins.
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