Justin Upton Walks It Off, Braves Beat Nationals in 10
By Eric Graff
Credit: Daniel Shirey-USA TODAY Sports
Justin Upton launched his team leading 23rd homerun of the season over the left-center-field wall in the bottom of the 10th to give the Braves the 3-2 walk off victory and extend their NL East dominance. The Braves now have a 15.5 game lead over the 2nd place Nationals and their magic number for winning the division is down to only 26. This was J-Up’s 2nd walk off homer of the season and 3rd of his career.
Braves rookie starter Alex Wood pitched brilliantly yet again. He pitched into the 7th inning while scattering 5 hits and allowing only 1 run. He struck out a career high 9 batters and didn’t walk anyone. Wood has only allowed 2 ER in his last 18.1 innings over his last 3 starts. Hopefully he will stay in the rotation once Paul Maholm comes back.
Luis Avilan saw his streak of 35 straight scoreless appearances come to an end in the bottom of the 8th inning. He retired the first two Nats, then allowed a double to Ryan Zimmerman and plunked Bryce Harper. It was the second time Harper was hit in the game and the third time since his slow homerun trot off of Julio Teheran a week and a half ago. Fredi Gonzalez immediately pulled Avilan and put in Luis Ayala, who gave up the game tying single to Jason Werth. I fully expect some Braves batters to get plunked in the next two games.
Jason Heyward paced the Braves offense yet again from the lead-off spot. Heyward picked up his 5 consecutive multi-hit game and the Braves are now 16-3 when Heyward leads off. Justin Upton and Andrelton Simmons both collected 2 hits, but the offense was stifled by double plays all night, hitting into 3 of them.
We also got to see the Major League debut of Braves infielder Phillip Gosselin. Gosselin, who was just called up earlier in the day to replace Tyler Pastornicky, came in the game as a defensive replacement after Evan Gattis pinch-hit for Janish in the 9th. Gosselin was a part of all three outs in the 10th by fielding a grounder off Scott Downs glove for an out, and turning a double play with Andrelton Simmons. Hell of a first major league game, huh?