Washington 4, Atlanta 2
When: 7:10 PM ET, Monday, September 15, 2014
Where: Turner Field, Atlanta, Georgia
Temperature:
77°
Umpires:
Home -
Tim Timmons, 1B -
Tim Welke, 2B -
Tom Hallion, 3B -
Ed Hickox
Attendance:
18220
By SportsDirect Inc.
Nationals 4, Braves 2: Wilson Ramos homered and scored twice and Stephen Strasburg pitched seven shutout innings as visiting Washington moved to the brink of the National League East title.
Ramos scored on Denard Span’s double in the third and hit a solo homer in the fifth for the Nationals, who reduced their magic number to winning the division to two and can clinch with a victory at Atlanta on Tuesday. Strasburg (12-11) beat the Braves for the first time this season and won for only the second time in eight career starts at Turner Field, giving up five hits with no walks and seven strikeouts, and Drew Storen recorded the final out in the ninth for his sixth save.
Ervin Santana (14-9) surrendered only two runs on three hits with six strikeouts in six innings for the Braves, who lost for the 10th time in 13 games to drop 4 ½ games behind idle Pittsburgh for the final NL wild-card spot. Andrelton Simmons doubled twice and the Braves scored two in the ninth, but Atlanta’s frustration boiled over in the sixth when Freddie Freeman was ejected by home-plate umpire Tim Timmons after striking out to end the inning and shattering his bat by slamming it to the ground.
Santana retired the first six hitters – four by strikeout – before issuing a leadoff walk in the third to Ramos, who scored with two outs when Span lofted a double that hit the chalk down the right-field line. Ramos made it 2-0 in the fifth, crushing Santana’s second pitch of the frame over the fence in deep left-center for his 11th homer of the season, and Strasburg’s RBI single in the seventh scored Asdrubal Cabrera.
Ramos threw out B.J. Upton at third base to end the third, Jason Heyward singled and moved to third on Strasburg’s throwing error in the fifth but was stranded there, and Freeman was called out on strikes with a runner on second to conclude the sixth. Justin Upton doubled off Rafael Soriano to drive home Simmons in the ninth and Christian Bethancourt greeted Storen with a RBI single, but shortstop Ian Desmond knocked down B.J. Upton's line drive and threw him out by a step to end the game with runners on second and third.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Washington LF Bryce Harper left the game for a pinch hitter in the fourth after feeling lightheaded; Nate Schierholtz replaced Harper and singled home a run in the eighth. … Santana is two strikeouts shy of 1,500 for his career. … Ramos’ blast gave the Nationals their 20th consecutive road game with a homer, tying Houston (2000) and Brooklyn (1953) for the third-longest streak in major-league history.
Top Game Performances
Team Stats Summary
| Team |
Hits |
HR |
TB |
Avg |
LOB |
K |
RBI |
BB |
SB |
Errors |
| Washington
|
6 |
1 |
12 |
.194 |
13 |
9 |
4 |
4 |
1 |
1 |
| Atlanta
|
9 |
0 |
12 |
.273 |
13 |
8 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
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