Braves end five game skid, Alex Wood strikes out eight

The Atlanta Braves ended their five-game losing streak tonight against the Washington Nationals, and avoided a series sweep in the process after picking up a 3-1 victory.

The team is still 5.5 games out of one of the wild card spots… but let’s talk about something good for once right? It’s been pretty negative for the Braves for a good long while, can we celebrate a win even if it doesn’t really matter?

Who knows, but that’s what we’ll try and do tonight.

Alex Wood was phenomenal on the mound. He pitched into the seventh inning and fanned eight Nationals hitters on just 93 total pitches and limited the team to just a single run. That run came off the bat of Steven Souza in the fifth inning, as he took the ball out of the park for a solo home run. Other than that, Washington tallied just four hits and a walk off of the lefty.

After this game, Wood is looking at a pretty fantastic set of numbers. His ERA dropped five points and is now at 2.78, his FIP is 3.21 and his xFIP is right in the same area at 3.17. He’s got great striekout-to-walk numbers as well as he’s been punching out 8.95 batters per nine and issuing just 2.35 free passes per nine.

Those numbers certainly aren’t indicative of a 10-10 record… but there are probably few win-loss records in the majors that adequately show how well a pitcher’s performed.

Offensively it was yet another “meh” night for the team, and it included a terrific one-two punch of Phil Gosselin and Andrelton Simmons. Gosselin actually went crazy, racking up three hits in four at-bats and scoring a run in the process. Christian Bethancourt had a solid night at the plate as well, driving in two runs with a bases-loaded single in the bottom of the sixth inning.

While the season could easily be over after just ten more games, it’s extremely nice to win the last matchup against the dreadful Washington Nationals and avoid the sweep as well. The Braves start a three-game series with the New York Mets Friday at 7:35 p.m.