Patrick Corbin tosses two scoreless in 2019 debut; Nationals lose to Braves, 9-4

There was no television coverage of this afternoon’s game, only radio, and it was Atlanta’s feed, but we did what we could to provide some info on the matchup which featured the 2019 Grapefruit League debut of Washington’s biggest free agent signing of the winter... Patrick Corbin.

Robles Show: Victor Robles was first pitch swinging against Atlanta Braves’ lefty Max Fried, and he singled to start this afternoon’s game, stole second one out later, and scored from third base on a wild pitch to give the Washington Nationals a 1-0 lead early this afternoon.

Robles walked in his second at bat (against Braves’ righty Jason Creasy) and scored on a two-run single by Juan Soto that made it a 3-0 game in the third.

Corbin Era: Patrick Corbin’s first start in a Nationals uniform began with three groundouts from the top of the Braves’ lineup (Ender Inciarte, Ozzie Albies, and Freddie Freeman) in an eight-pitch bottom of the first inning. Corbin worked around a two-out double in the home-half of the second, and completed two scoreless on 26 pitches (acc. to WaPost writer Jesse Dougherty’s pitch count).

Notorious Nationals Killer: Freddie Freeman made it a one-run game with one swing when he hit a two-run blast off J.J. Hoover in the bottom of the fourth inning, crushing what the Braves’ announcer described as a “BP fastball”, sending it out to right-center after Hoover walked Ozzie Albies, 3-2. Hoover gave up a single and back-to-back walks to the next three batters he faced, loading the bases with no one out, and the tying run scored on a ground ball RBI off Charlie Culberson’s bat, 3-3. Scott Copeland kept it there and got the Nationals out of the Braves’ half of the fourth.

Copeland came back out with a scoreless fifth, after which James Bourque took over in the Braves’ sixth. Bourque retired the first two batters he faced, gave up a two-out single and a walk, then had a passed ball on a strikeout extend the inning. Another walk forced in a run, and a three-run single by Cristian Pache followed as the home team went up, 7-3.

Wil Crowe gave up back-to-back singles in the Braves’ half of the seventh, and a two-run double by Alex Jackson put Atlanta up by six, 9-3.

Wander Suero tossed a scoreless eighth for the Nationals, and the visiting team added a run on an RBI single by Jacob Wilson in the ninth, 9-4. That’s how it ended.