Washington Nationals Recap: Trea Turner Hits First Home Run In 2-1 Loss To Braves
By Ricky Keeler
Tonight, the Washington Nationals (80-77) began their final road trip of the 2015 season in Turner Field against the Atlanta Braves (63-94). Even though the Nats have nothing to play for in terms of playoff contention, Trea Turner gets the chance to play everyday and he took advantage of it. The Nats’ second baseman hit his first career home run tonight, but it wasn’t enough as A.J. Pierzynski’s two solo home runs against Tanner Roark (4-7, 4.63 ERA) lifted the Braves to a 2-1 win. It is Atlanta’s fourth win of the season in 17 games against Washington.
Both teams did not score in the first three innings, but there was some history made. With two outs, Bryce Harper drew a five-pitch walk for his 124th walk of the season. He now is the all-time Expos/Nationals leader for most walks in a single season, passing Ken Singleton.
The Braves got on the board first in the bottom of the fourth. With two outs in the inning, Pierzysnki hit his first home run of the night when he took a 1-1 curveball from Roark and hit it over the right field wall for a solo shot.
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Two innings later, Turner took the first pitch fastball from Braves’ starter Matt Wisler (7-8, 5.11) and hit it over the fence in left for a solo shot, which tied the game at one. However, that would be the only run the Nats would score against Wisler. Wisler went seven innings, gave up one run on five hits, struck out four, and walked two on 99 pitches (65 strikes) in the win.
As for Roark, he went further in this game than any of his previous four starts. But, Pierzysnki was able to get to him again in the seventh. The Braves’ catcher worked an eight-pitch at-bat before hitting a 3-2 fastball deep to right center for another solo home run. Pierzynski’s sixth home run of the season put Atlanta ahead 2-1. Roark went 6.2 innings, gave up two runs on five hits, struck out four, and walked one on 104 pitches (64 strikes) in the loss.
The Nats had their chances against the Braves’ bullpen in the last two innings, but they could not come through. With Turner on first and one out in the eighth, Harper grounded into a 5-4-3 double play to end the inning.
Then, in the ninth, Jayson Werth and Clint Robinson led off the inning with base hits against Arodys Vizcaino. Ian Desmond had a chance to move the runners over, but he bunted the ball right in front of Pierzynski, who ended up turning a 2-5-3 double play. Matt den Dekker would strike out swinging to end the game as Vizcaino recorded his eighth save of the season. As a team, the Nationals were 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position and left six men on base in the loss.
Next Game: The Washington Nationals will continue their three game series against the Atlanta Braves tomorrow night at Turner Field. You can catch the game on MASN at 7:10 PM ET. Jordan Zimmermann (13-9, 3.68) gets the start for the Nats against Williams Perez (6-6, 5.04) for the Braves.
Next: Nationals at Braves Series Preview (9/29-10/1)