Atlanta Braves vs Washington Nationals Box Score on Jul 07, 2017

The Sports Xchange
Jul 7, 2017

WASHINGTON -- Daniel Murphy hit an RBI single to left field with one out in the 10th inning as the Washington Nationals rallied to defeat the Atlanta Braves 5-4 on Friday.

The hit scored Adrian Sanchez, who led off the inning with a single for his first big league hit. He went to third on a single to right field by Ryan Zimmerman.

The winning pitcher was Matt Albers (5-1), who got a double play in the top of the 10th inning, while former Washington lefty Ian Krol (1-2) was saddled with the loss.

The Nationals tied the game at 4 with three runs in the ninth inning as Braves manager Brian Snitker was ejected for arguing balls and strikes. Murphy and Anthony Rendon had RBI singles and Matt Wieters drove in the tying run with a sacrifice fly off closer Jim Johnson. Snitker argued a call while Wieters was at the plate.

Freddie Freeman went 2-for-4 with a homer and three RBIs for the Braves.

Freeman led off the seventh with a homer against Max Scherzer as the Braves took a 2-1 lead. Scherzer was replaced in the eighth by lefty Oliver Perez, who yielded a two-run single to Freeman as Atlanta assumed a 4-1 advantage.

Scherzer, the potential All-Star Game starter, gave up four runs in 7 2/3 innings with 10 strikeouts while throwing 120 pitches. He now has 60 games of at least 10 strikeouts in his career.

Atlanta starter R.A. Dickey lost his no-hit bid as Stephen Drew led off the sixth with a double and then scored on a single by Wieters to make it 1-1. Dickey went seven innings and allowed the one run on three hits with seven strikeouts.

Matt Adams of the Braves had two doubles and Brandon Phillips was 2-for-4 for Atlanta. The first-place Nationals are 51-35 while the second-place Braves are 41-44.

Dickey did not allow a hit in the first five innings. The only runner to reach base against him was Ryan Raburn, who walked in the fourth and was then retired when Bryce Harper hit into a double play.

Scherzer also retired his initial nine hitters as the first three innings took just 38 minutes to play. That came after Thursday's game of three hours, 10 minutes that began after a weather delay of three hours, five minutes.

The Braves finally broke through Friday as Ender Inciarte led off the fourth inning with a double. He scored on a single by Brandon Phillips that grazed the glove of Murphy.

Scherzer entered the contest with at least 10 strikeouts in seven of his last eight games.

Dickey had allowed just two runs in his previous three starts after giving up eight in five innings on June 13 at Washington.

NOTES: Atlanta OF Danny Santana (possible calf infection) was sent to Atlanta due to fears of being contagious, according to manager Brian Snitker. INF-OF Jace Peterson was slated to arrive after the game started for Atlanta, coming from Triple-A Gwinnett. ... The Nationals put OF Michael A. Taylor (mild right oblique strain) on the disabled list and brought back OF Chris Heisey, who had been on the disabled list with a right biceps rupture and was a late defensive replacement. ... Washington RHP Stephen Strasburg (9-2, 3.28) will face Atlanta RHP Julio Teheran (6-6, 5.14) on Saturday. ... The Nationals signed LHP Seth Romero, their first-round pick in June. He had pitched for the University of Houston this year before he was dismissed from the team. ... Washington has yet to be shut out this year.