September 15, 2019 – Nats 7, Braves 0 – Nationals Park

https://www.mlb.com/nationals/news/howie-kendrick-sparks-nationals-win

 

Weather: 81 degrees, Sunny.

Wind: 5 mph, In From LF.

Umpires: HP--Welke, 1B--Muchlinski, 2B--Drake, 3B--Timmons.

Time: 3:03

Attendance: 29,350

 

After being outscored 15-1 in the first two games of the weekend series, pretty much extinguishing any faint hope the Nationals had of catching the first-place Braves, Washington got a small measure of revenge Sunday afternoon and kept pace in the standings with their Wild Card challengers. Former Brave Anibal Sanchez was brilliant, going 7 innings and not allowing an Atlanta runner to reach second base other than Freddie Freeman, who doubled with two outs in the first. Hunter Strickland handled the 8^th, while Doolittle pitched a 1-2-3 9^th, albeit with all 3 outs coming on long fly balls.

 

Atlanta lefty Max Fried had owned the Nats 10 days earlier, allowing only one baserunner in his 7 scoreless innings. This Sunday, however, the tables were turned. The onslaught started in the second, when Kendrick singled, Robles doubled, and Yan Gomes got a ground ball through the infield to score both. Fried would be gone an inning later, after Kendrick’s two-run single with the bases loaded and a walk to Brian Dozier. Reliever Jeremy Walker then walked Robles on 5 pitches to force in Washington’s 5^th run. Kendrick continued his big day with a solo homer two innings later, and Robles scored on an odd inning-ending double play in the 6^th to finish the scoring.

September 13, 2019 – Braves 5, Nats 0 – Nationals Park

https://www.mlb.com/nationals/news/max-scherzer-nationals-lose-opener-to-braves

 

Weather: 71 degrees, Overcast.

Wind: 5 mph, In From RF.

Umpires: HP--Drake, 1B--Timmons, 2B--Welke, 3B--Muchlinski.

Time: 3:16

Attendance: 39,730

 

Section 419, Row M, Seats 1-2 – one row below the top of the stadium, although we were so used to our top-row seats from previous “extra” games that we actually sat in Row N instead

 

A decent-but-not-great start from Scherzer, two more runs surrendered by the Bullpen From Hell, and an almost-complete lack of offense produced the expected result, as the Nats (Naughts?) fell once again to the 2019 NL East champs-to-be. Most of the members of the sellout crowd were left to hope that their Tony Two-Bags bobbleheads would not be the final Washington giveaway item honoring the wildly popular pending free agent.

 

Despite inconsistent command, Max battled the Braves successfully for the first three innings, most notably in the second when he struck out the side after a Nick Markakis single and a Matt Joyce walk. Things didn’t go as well in the 4^th, when Atlanta scored their first run on a Markakis double and a Joyce single, and a second when Dansby Swanson doubled two batters later. Markakis, in his first game back off the IL, struck again an inning later with a bases-loaded sac fly to make the score 3-0. The Braves added what proved to be unnecessary insurance runs in the 7^th (when Ozzie Albies went yard on Tanner Rainey’s first pitch of the inning) and 8^th (when Hunter Strickland retired only one of his four batters faced, before Javy Guerra came in to limit the damage).

 

There isn’t much to say about the Washington “offense”. They wasted scoring opportunities in the 2^nd and 4^th against Braves starter Mike Soroka, who gave up just one hit, along with three walks, in his six innings of work. Doubles by Robles in the 8^th and Soto in the 9^th were too little, too late.