The Braves won their 14th straight game topping the Nationals 8-2.
Everything went right for the Braves, especially their offense. The Braves lineup had 6 guys with multiple hard hit balls, Matt Olson and Marcell Ozuna both had 3 hard hit balls. But Austin Riley was the offensive headline for the Braves, the third baseman homered twice and collected 4 RBI’s. Orlando Arcia got on base all 5 times he stepped up to the plate, the second baseman had 2 RBI’s and a homer. Ronald Acuna and Adam Duvall were the only Braves that didn’t record a hit.
Braves pitching shutdown the Nats, starter Spencer Strider absolutely shoved. Strider struckout 11 across 5.2 innings. He allowed only 1 hit and 2 earned runs. He racked up 24 swings and misses, 12 on his fastball and 10 on his slider. Strider is straight electricity when he is on the bump, he averaged 99 mph on his fastball this outing and topped out at 101 mph. But Strider’s slider has been his best pitch. His slider has a .125 BAA, .125 SLG, and a 51.1% whiff rate. Jesse Chavez, A.J. Minter, and Jesus Cruz all had scoreless appearances. Minter’s season ERA is down to 0.98.
The Nationals offense only had 4 hits. Shortstop Luis Garcia had the only extra base hits for the Nationals in the form of a 5th inning solo homer. The Nationals offense only had a .196 xBA and only recorded 4 hard hit balls.
Nationals starter Erick Fedde allowed 9 hard hit balls across his 5.1 innings of work. He also allowed 7 hits, 3 walks, and 3 earned runs. Steve Cishek allowed 2 hits, 2 walks, and 2 earned runs in his appearance. Carl Edwards Jr. allowed 3 earned runs and 3 hits in his appearance. Francisco Perez was the only Nationals pitcher to not allow a run to cross the plate. He struck out 2 while allowing 2 hits and a walk in his 1.1 innings pitched.