Kevin Gausman gave the Atlanta Braves exactly what they needed with a dominant performance to help lead them to a 7-1 win over the Washington Nationals.
The Braves got things started quickly against Nationals starter Joe Ross. Dansby Swanson worked a one out walk and then moved all the way to third as Freddie Freeman blooped a single into short left. Josh Donaldson struck out but Nick Markakis came through with a two out, two-run single to put Atlanta in front 2-0.
Ross would settle down from there until Donaldson jumped on an inside slider and hammered it into the left field stands to make it 3-0.
I love a rainy night #ChopOn pic.twitter.com/9nS5gCNMZT
— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) July 22, 2019
The Braves would add two more runs in the seventh. Freeman doubled home Ronald Acuña Jr. who stumbled coming around third but was able to get to his feet and still score on the play. Donaldson followed with a single to center that scored Freeman to give the Braves a 5-0 lead.
Much was made all week about Gausman working on adding a cutter and curveball to his mix. However, Gausman went with his four seamer and his splitter exclusively but was able to keep the Nationals at bay. He gave up some hard contact early on but settled in nicely.
Gausman’s final line was impressive. Seven innings pitched while allowing just five hits and one earned run. Two of those hits came in the eighth and the lone run scored after he had been pulled from the game. Gausman struck out eight and didn’t walk anyone while throwing 83 pitches.
Gerardo Parra blooped in a single off of Anthony Swarzak that scored Brian Dozier to make it 5-1 heading into the eighth.
The Braves went back to work in the bottom half of the inning. Ender Inciarte led off the inning with a walk and then came around to score when Acuña hit an absolute missile out to left to increase the lead to 7-1.
Suñday! Suñday! Suñday!#ChopOn pic.twitter.com/PNx85MPgl6
— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) July 22, 2019
Josh Tomlin worked a perfect ninth to nail down the victory.
Freeman went 3-for-5 in the game. Acuña, Donaldson and Ozzie Albies all finished with two hits each. The Braves finished with 11 hits in the game and were 3-for-8 with runners in scoring position. Kurt Suzuki went 2-for-3 for the Nationals who totaled just six hits in the game.
The Braves salvage a split in the series and push their lead back to 6.5 games in the NL East. Atlanta will enjoy an off day on Monday before opening a brief two-game series with the Kansas City Royals on Tuesday.