Rolling In The Sweep: Punchless Braves Fall To Nats Again

Man, this is getting old fast. Once again, the Braves were unable to muster any kind of offense, falling 7-2 in the third game of the series. The loss was the Braves' seventh in as many games, and Atlanta now sits in 4th place in the division.

Gio Gonzalez started for Washington and started wild. He walked Michael Bourn who promptly stole second base. Then, instead of letting Tyler Pastornicky swing, Fredi Gonzalez put the bunt sign on. After giving Gonzalez an out and moving Bourn to third, Prado drove him in on an RBI groundout. The Braves struck again in the third thanks to Bourn. Bourn hit a one-out triple then scored on a squeeze bunt by Pastornicky. That was all the scoring the Braves would get on the night.

The Nationals would tie the game in the 4th. After Adam LaRoche walked, Pastornicky bobbled a sure double-play ball off the bat of Ian Desmond all hands were safe. A walk, single, and sac fly later, LaRoche and Desmond had both scored to tie the game. Both runs were unearned.

Brandon Beachy only threw 5 innings because of a high pitch count, so after he hit the first batter he faced in the 6th, Fredi Gonzalez brought in Livan Hernandez. Predictably, Livan imploded, giving up 4 runs on a series of hits. The first run was charged to Beachy. That put the game well out of reach of Atlanta, who never threatened again. Bryce Harper, who struck out in his first at-bat against Livan, hit a solo shot off him in the 7th to close the scoring.

The Braves will attempt to break this losing streak tomorrow at 1:10pm as they open a series at home against the Cardinals.