Braves Krol Out Victorious, 3-2

Justin Upton just keeps hitting late-inning home runs against the Nationals.

Instead of augmenting the lead, this Justin Upton homer ended things. With Ian Krol on to face the top of the order, Upton took a hanging breaking ball out to left-center to send the Braves to a 75-47 record.

Though the team took home the victory, Alex Wood will not. Six and third innings of dominant pitching wouldn't be enough as Luis Avilan broke his scoreless innings streak in the 8th. But Wood pitched brilliantly, striking out a career-high 9 and walking none. He ran up a relatively high pitch count to get there, but you'll take a start like this every night of the week. As a starter, Wood hasn't been quite as brilliant as he was as a reliever (normal), but you'll take a 25% K rate and 8% BB walk rate for a 2.51 FIP and 3.01 xFIP as a starter. Pretty good.

The other big theme of the game for the Nationals was again revolving around Bryce Harper. Wood hit Harper to lead off the 4th inning, and after the last series, it was something to watch even though Wood didn't appear to do it on purpose. Avilan added to the suspense in the 8th by hitting Harper again, and as both benches were warned, the Nationals were clearly not happy. With Scott Downs on in the 10th, Harper was almost hit again. None of the HBP seemed intentional, but with Strasburg out there tomorrow, Braves hitters will be on the lookout for a 97 mph heater toward their ribs.

Very little else to this game. Alex Wood was spectacular, and Justin Upton ended it in extras with a walk-off bomb.

Win Expectancy Chart