Patrick Corbin retired eight straight to start today’s game, then gave up a two-out single and a two-run home run in the third inning as the Atlanta Braves responded a half-inning after the Washington Nationals jumped out to a 1-0 lead.
With the score 2-1 in the home team’s favor in the bottom of the sixth, Corbin got two outs, but Austin Riley doubled to drive in a run, 3-1, and then he scored on Adam Duvall’s two-run shot to left field off Corbin, 5-1.
Victor Robles and Ryan Zimmerman drove in runs with RBI singles in the seventh, and then Zimmerman doubled in a run in the ninth, that’s as close as the Nationals got, 5-4 final.
Corbin vs ATL: Patrick Corbin took the mound this afternoon winless in his last four outings, with a 7.15 ERA, seven walks, 17 Ks, seven homers allowed, and a .312/.356/.602 line against over 22 2⁄3 IP in those starts.
In his last turn in the rotation before today, Corbin gave up a run in the first, but held Philly off the board through six, before giving up three runs in the seventh. His eight Ks were the second-most this season, and the southpaw said he was focusing on the positives after his outing.
“I’m just trying to look at the positives tonight and try to just continue to build on that, and like I said, I feel good,” he told reporters.
“I feel like my stuff played today, and just got to go out there and compete.”
Corbin retired the first eight batters he faced this afternoon, before the opposing pitcher, Max Fried, singled to center field to break up the nascent no-hit bid, and Ozzie Albies hit one out to center in the next at bat, with the two-run shot putting the Braves up 2-1 a half-inning after the Nationals jumped out to a lead.
.@ozzie touch 'em Albies!#ForTheA pic.twitter.com/1L5ZH7NcUs
— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) August 8, 2021
Corbin held it there through five, which he completed on just 46 pitches overall, but he gave up three in the sixth, on a two-out RBI double by Austin Riley and two-run shot off Adam Duvall’s bat that put the Braves up 5-1.
He got Duvall of that one @aduvall123 | #ForTheA pic.twitter.com/z2Wmi9swXs
— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) August 8, 2021
Patrick Corbin’s Line: 6.0 IP, 5 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 1 BB, 5 Ks, 2 HRs, 68 P, 45 S, 6/3 GO/FO.
Fried vs D.C.: Going up against St. Louis in his last outing before this afternoon, Atlanta’s 27-year-old lefty Max Fried tossed six scoreless inning, giving up four hits and one walk in a 98-pitch effort in a 6-1 win.
This afternoon, Fried was taking on the Nationals for the fourth time this season, after giving up 18 hits, 11 runs (10 earned), and four walks in the previous three outings, in which he had eight Ks and a .375/.426/.542 line against.
The southpaw tossed two scoreless innings to start, on 29 pitches, but the first two batters in the top of the second, Luis García and Patrick Corbin, both reached base on a hit and a walk, respectively, then García took third when Victor Robles bunted into a force at second base, before scoring on an Alcides Escobar single to center, 1-0 Nationals.
Max Fried, Beautiful 77mph Curveball. pic.twitter.com/8mWFmvhgAP
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) August 8, 2021
It was 2-1 in the Braves’ favor when Fried returned to the mound in the top of the fourth, and he kept the Nats off the board in 17-pitch frames in the fourth and fifth, which left him at 85 total on the afternoon.
Josh Bell hit a shift-beating single through the right side of the infield with one down in the top of the sixth, and went first-to-third on Yadiel Hernández’s second hit of the game (2 for 3 vs Fried), but Carter Kieboom K’d chasing a 2-2 curve out of the zone for out No. 2, and a force at second on a grounder up the middle by Tres Barrera got Fried out of the jam. Still 2-1 Braves.
Max Fried’s Line: 6.0 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 Ks, 105 P, 69 S, 8/3 GO/FO.
Alcides EscOBP: Going into today’s game, Alcides Escobar had reached base safely in 10 straight games, and the veteran infielder was 11 for 39 (.282 AVG) over that stretch, with three doubles, three HBPs, two walks, and seven runs scored. Escobar hit safely in 8 of the 10 with a total of three multi-hit games as well, and he’d reached base in 23 of 27 games since joining the Nationals. An RBI single in the third drove in the Nationals’ first run and extended Escobar’s on-base streak.
Bullpen Action: Jesse Chavez took over in the top of the seventh, with a 5-1 lead, and gave up a leadoff double to right field by Luis García, who moved up on a groundout by Andrew Stevenson, and scored on an RBI single by Victor Robles, 5-2, and then 5-3 when Ryan Zimmerman drove Robles in with the second RBI single of the inning.
Ryan Zimmerman has 1,051 career RBIs.
— Washington Nationals (@Nationals) August 8, 2021
1⃣2⃣9⃣ of those have been against the Braves.
(His most against any team.)#NATITUDE pic.twitter.com/JzrWLUhh8C
Richard Rodríguez came on for Atlanta against Josh Bell, and got a groundout to end the inning.
Gabe Klobosits retired the Braves in order in a six-pitch, six-strike bottom of the seventh.
Rodríguez worked around a one-out walk to Carter Kieboom in a scoreless eighth. Still 5-3 Braves.
Klobosits worked another scoreless frame in the Braves’ eighth.
Chris Martin came on to end it for Atlanta and gave up a two-out double by Alcides Escobar on a fly to left that Adam Duvall lost track of and couldn’t catch, and an RBI double by Ryan Zimmerman on a gapper to left-center that made it a one-run game, 5-4, but Josh Bell hit a grounder to second to end the game.
Final Score: 5-4 Braves
Nationals now 50-62