We waited three long days to see the Braves do this?
The Washington Nationals battered Jair Jurrjens and Livan Hernandez gave up only 5 hits and one run in seven innings of work as Atlanta couldn't do anything offensively and lost 9-2.
Washington got the scoring going in the top of the second inning as Michael Morse crushed his 23rd home run to left field as the Nationals took an early 1-0 lead.
The Braves responded in the bottom of the inning as Atlanta loaded the bases against Hernandez. After Alex Gonzalez popped out into foul territory for the first out, Jason Heyward hit a sacrifice fly to center field to score Dan Uggla and tie the game at one.
After that, it was all Washington.
Morse struck again in the third inning as he doubled with two outs to score Ryan Zimmerman and increased the Nationals lead to 2-1.
Livan Hernandez helped himself out in the fifth inning, doubling to start the inning. After Ian Desmond singled and Rick Ankiel popped out, Zimmerman launched his tenth home run to center field for a three-run shot to up the lead to 5-1.
The rest after the jump.
Jurrjens gave up yet another home run in the sixth inning, this one to Danny Espinosa, his 19th of the season. Espinosa's blast gave the Nationals a 6-1 lead.
The end of the sixth inning signaled the end of Jurrjens' night as well. He finished with a line of 6 IP, 8 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 2 BB, 3 K.
Cristhian Martinez came in in relief of Jurrjens but couldn't cool off the Nationals bats. Zimmerman continued his hot hitting with a two-out double. Morse then singled to center, scoring Zimmerman and upping the Washington lead to 7-1. Laynce Nix then followed with his 18th home run of the season, a two-run blast, giving Washington a 9-1 lead.
Atlanta scored their second run of the game in the bottom of the seventh, as Alex Gonzalez doubled and scored on a single from Jason Heyward to make it a 9-2 game.
Livan Hernandez earned the win, finishing with a line of 7 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 1 K.
Arodys Vizcaino and Craig Kimbrel pitched the final two innings for Atlanta (not sure why), striking out 5 combined, including three by Vizcaino.