The Atlanta Braves beat the Washington Nationals 5-2 on Thursday night in the first outing of a four-game National League East series at Nationals Park in Washington DC.
The Nationals struck first with back-to-back home runs from CJ Abrams and Lane Thomas off Reynaldo Lopez to lead off the bottom of the sixth inning. The Braves tied it up at 2-2 in the top of the seventh with a two-run homer by Adam Duvall. Austin Riley put Atlanta ahead with an RBI single that drove Ozzie Albies to home plate in the eighth. That was followed by a two-run homer from Marcell Ozuna, his NL-leading 18th homer of the year.
Aaron Bummer was credited with the win in relief for Atlanta, while Rasiel Iglesias picked up the save. Hunter Harvey took the loss for DC.
The Braves will face the Nationals again this evening at 6:45 pm. Listen to play-by-play coverage from the Atlanta Braves Radio Network locally on the airwaves of WLAQ 1410 AM/96.9 FM; airtime is 5:30 pm.
Atlanta’s series at DC will continue through this Sunday. It will be followed by an off-day on Monday, then a three-game set at Baltimore, MD versus the Orioles next Tuesday night through Thursday. The team’s current nine-game road trip began with the split of a two-game series in Boston, MA versus the Red Sox.