Heading into the seventh inning of their game against the Washington Nationals, the Atlanta Braves were down 5-1 and in danger of being swept at home. With one swing of the bat, the Braves erased the deficit. With another in the 10th inning, they walked off the field with a 6-5 victory.
Nationals Vs. Braves: Atlanta Comes Back, Wins In Extras
The Nationals strung their hits together well against Braves starter Derek Lowe, who walked three and allowed five hits in six innings. Danny Espinosa drove a ball over the center-field fence in the second inning with a runner on to give the Nationals an early 2-0 lead.
Chipper Jones closed the gap with a solo shot off Nationals starter Jordan Zimmermann in the third, but Adam LaRoche rapped an RBI single in the fourth, and Ivan Rodriguez had a run-scoring grounder to score another run, putting the Nationals up 4-1. Pudge would add a solo homer in the sixth for the Nationals' last run.
Things unraveled for Washington in the seventh, though. Zimmermann gave up a walk and a single before being replaced with lefty Sean Burnett, who walked Brooks Conrad after he barely checked his swing on a 3-2 pitch. Martin Prado battled Burnett for nine pitches before driving a grand slam over the left-center field fence to tie the game.
Prado was the leadoff hitter in the tenth, too, walking against Doug Slaten, who was in his third inning of work. A Nate McLouth sacrifice bunt moved Prado over, and after Chipper Jones was intentionally walked, Brian McCann turned on an inside fastball and ripped it down the right-field line for a game-winning single.
The Braves avoided the sweep, and the Nationals couldn’t hold the lead for Zimmermann, who struck out a career high 11 in his 6-1/3 innings.
For more on the Nationals and Braves, please check out team blogs Federal Baseball and Talking Chop.
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