https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/WAS/WAS202309220.shtml
Time: 3:01
Attendance: 36,297
As with our previous
game, the weather was reasonably cooperative, as it didn’t start raining
until the final few innings, by which time the home team’s fate was pretty much
decided. (We took the opportunity to leave a little early.) Ronald Acuña led
off the game and made history by hitting his 40th homer of the year to go with
his 60+ stolen bases. Two batters later, the Braves led 3-0 when Austin Riley hit
the second homer of the inning off Nats starter Patrick Corbin. The visitors
extended their lead in the top of the third when Acuña doubled and scored on
two fly balls.
Atlanta starter Charlie Morton left after the first inning
with a finger injury, and Washington did fight back against the Braves’
bullpen, with one run in the third and two in the fourth. After the two 4th-inning
runs, Darius Vines walked the bases loaded, but Dominic Smith struck out to end
the frame.
Unfortunately, the Nats gave those two runs right back. With
one on and one out, Dave Martinez lifted Corbin after just 68 pitches,
apparently not wanting Acuña to have another crack at him. The move backfired,
as reliever Jordan Weems hit Acuña with a pitch and then allowed both runners
to score. And when Washington cut the margin to 6-4 in the bottom of the 6th,
Marcell Ozuna immediately answered with a backbreaking 3-run HR.
What made our attendance worthwhile was the salute to
beloved former Nats reliever Sean Doolittle, one of the heroes of their 2019
championship run, who announced
his retirement earlier in the day. He rode the cart in from the bullpen one
last time prior to the game and took the mound to deliver a strike to fellow
Washington favorite Gerardo (“Baby Shark”) Parra. As a final tribute, Weems became
one of the few other pitchers to take the cart when he came into the game.
Somewhat surprisingly, there were still some Keibert Ruiz bobbleheads left when I arrived at 6:35, despite the large crowd.
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