October 4, 2013: Nationals 6 Braves 5 (series tied, 1-1)

Chicks dig the longball. Nationals fans also dig the longball, especially when 5 of them in a game leads to a 6-5 comeback win over the Braves to tie their division series at a game a piece.

The Nats homerfest started in the 1st when Denard Span led off with one. The Braves then roughed up Stephen Strasburg in the top of the 2nd with 5 runs on 4 hits, 3 walks (one intentional), a balk, and an error. The Nats immediately showed they hadn't given up the fight in the bottom of the inning with back-to-back solo homers from Adam Laroche and Wilson Ramos.

Strasburg settled down, and Bryce Harper made it a one-run game with a solo shot in the 5th. The 5-4 score held until the bottom of the 8th, when NL MVP Ian Desmond led off the inning with a single. That brought Braves closer (and NL Cy Young Award winner) Craig Kimbrel out to face Laroche, but instead of shutting the Nats down like he did he game 1, he gave up Laroche's 2nd homer of the day to give the Nats a one run lead. Rafael Soriano got the Braves in the top of the 9th for the save.

BOXSCORE: 2013 Atlanta Braves At 2013 Washington Nationals          10/4/2013
 
  Braves             AB  R  H RBI AVG     Nationals          AB  R  H RBI AVG
  J.Heyward CF        4  0  1  0 .154     D.Span CF           4  1  2  1 .250  
  J.Upton RF          4  1  2  0 .333     R.Zimmerman 3B      4  0  0  0 .000  
  F.Freeman 1B        5  1  1  2 .182     J.Werth RF          3  0  1  0 .333  
  E.Gattis LF         3  0  0  0 .250     B.Harper LF         4  1  3  1 .500  
  B.McCann C          3  0  0  1 .091     I.Desmond SS        3  1  1  0 .429  
  A.Simmons SS        4  1  1  0 .333     A.Laroche 1B        4  2  2  3 .400  
  C.Johnson 3B        4  1  1  1 .417     W.Ramos C           4  1  1  1 .286  
  C.Kimbrel P         0  0  0  0 ----     A.Rendon 2B         3  0  0  0 .000  
  E.Johnson 2B        3  1  0  0 .000     D.Storen P          0  0  0  0 ----  
  J.Teheran P         2  0  0  0 .000     C.Stammen P         0  0  0  0 ----  
A-J.Schafer PH        1  0  1  01.000   D-C.Tracy PH          1  0  0  0 .000  
  J.Walden P          0  0  0  0 .000     R.Soriano P         0  0  0  0 ----  
  L.Avilan P          0  0  0  0 ----     S.Strasburg P       2  0  0  0 .000  
C-P.Janish 3B         0  0  0  0 ----     F.Abad P            0  0  0  0 ----  
E-G.Laird PH          1  0  0  0 .000   B-S.Lombardozzi PH,2B 2  0  0  0 .000  
                     -- -- -- ---                            -- -- -- ---      
         Totals      34  5  7  4                 Totals      34  6 10  6
 
A-Pinch Hit For Teheran In 6th Inning
B-Pinch Hit For Abad In 6th Inning
C-Subbed Defensively (3B) For Avilan In 8th Inning
D-Pinch Hit For Stammen In 8th Inning
E-Pinch Hit For Janish In 9th Inning
 
Braves.......... 0 5 0  0 0 0  0 0 0  -  5  7  1
Nationals....... 1 2 0  0 1 0  0 2    -  6 10  1
 
Braves (2-1)             IP       H   R  ER  BB  SO  HR  PC    ERA
J.Teheran                 5       7   4   4   1   5   4  83   7.20
J.Walden HOLD(1st)        1 2/3   1   0   0   0   1   0  19   2.45
L.Avilan HOLD(1st)        0 1/3   1   1   1   0   0   0   5  27.00
C.Kimbrel L(0-1) BS(1st)  1       1   1   1   0   1   1  19   3.00
Totals                    8      10   6   6   1   7   5
 
Nationals (1-1)          IP       H   R  ER  BB  SO  HR  PC    ERA
S.Strasburg               5 2/3   6   5   5   4   9   0 101   7.94
F.Abad                    0 1/3   0   0   0   0   0   0   5   0.00
D.Storen                  1 1/3   0   0   0   0   1   0  17   0.00
C.Stammen WIN(1-0)        0 2/3   0   0   0   0   0   0   8   0.00
R.Soriano SAVE(1st)       1       1   0   0   1   0   0  22   0.00
Totals                    9       7   5   5   5  10   0
 
ATTENDANCE- 40,312 DATE- Friday, October 4th 2013 TIME- Day WEATHER- Average
UMPIRES- Kerwin Danley, Lance Barksdale, Vic Carapazza, Gary Cederstrom
T- 2:53
LEFT ON BASE- Braves: 7  Nationals: 6
DOUBLE PLAYS- Braves: 1  Nationals: 0
ERRORS- A.Simmons, W.Ramos
DOUBLES- C.Johnson(2nd), D.Span(1st)
HOME RUNS- D.Span(1st), B.Harper(1st), A.Laroche-2(2nd), W.Ramos(1st)
RBIs- F.Freeman-2(2nd), B.McCann(2nd), C.Johnson(1st), D.Span(1st),
      B.Harper(1st), A.Laroche-3(3rd), W.Ramos(1st)
STOLEN BASES- J.Heyward(1st), A.Simmons(1st), J.Schafer(1st)
WALKS- J.Heyward, J.Upton, E.Gattis, B.McCann, E.Johnson, J.Werth
HIT BY PITCH- I.Desmond
STRIKE OUTS- J.Heyward, J.Upton, F.Freeman-2, E.Gattis-2, B.McCann, E.Johnson-2,
             J.Teheran, D.Span, R.Zimmerman, J.Werth, I.Desmond, A.Laroche,
             S.Strasburg, S.Lombardozzi
GIDP- I.Desmond
BALKS- S.Strasburg
2-out RBI- F.Freeman-2, B.McCann, B.Harper
RLISP 2-out- B.McCann, A.Simmons-2, R.Zimmerman, J.Heyward, F.Freeman
TEAM RISP- Braves: 4 for 12  Nationals: 0 for 2
 
First baseman Adam Laroche smashed 2 homeruns and had 3 RBI as the Washington
Nationals bested the Atlanta Braves 6 to 5 at Nationals Park.
 
Laroche made sure the Washington fans enjoyed themselves.  He hit a
bases-empty home run in the 2nd inning and bombed a two-run dinger in the 8th
inning.  Atlanta made it exciting in the 9th, but they were unable to push
the needed runs across.  
 
Craig Stammen(1-0) picked up the victory, allowing no runs in 2/3 of an
inning. Stammen got help from Rafael Soriano who earned his 1st save.  Craig
Kimbrel(0-1) was the loser in relief.  
 
Fredi Gonzalez was reflective after the loss, 'We should have won this one, we
just made one too many mistakes.  Son-of-a-gun, that added a couple more
white hairs on this noggin of mine.'