Nats down early to Braves (Nats fall 7-6)

The Nationals find themselves in a hole early in Atlanta. After being retired in order in the first, Stephen Strasburg took the mound in the bottom of the inning. Strasburg retired the first two batters he faced, but then issued a walk to Freddie Freeman. Justin Upton followed with a two-run homer to center field. Strasburg then walked Jason Heyward, but struck out Evan Gattis to end the inning. The Nats trail 2-0 at the end of one inning. Update II: Strasburg's struggles continued in the second inning. He gave up two two-run homers in the inning. Both B.J. Upton and Freeman took Strasburg deep to extend the Braves' lead to 6-0. Right fielder Steven Souza Jr. made a tremendous effort in attempting to rob Freeman of a homer. He jumped for the ball, but slammed into the right field fence extremely hard. Souza appeared to be shaken up a bit, but after a visit from the training staff, he remained in the game. Update III: Souza was removed to the game prior to the bottom of the third. Bryce Harper moved to right field and Kevin Frandsen has taken Harper's spot in left field. Update IV: Denard Span picked up the Nats' first hit of the game in the top of the fourth. Span extended his on-base streak to 34 games with the hit. Asdrubal Cabrera followed with a walk, but Santana retired Anthony Rendon, Adam LaRoche and Ian Desmond in order to end the inning. Update V: In the bottom of the fifth, Strasburg gave up a leadoff homer to Tommy La Stella. It was La Stella's first home run of his career. The homer was also the fourth homer Strasburg has given up tonight. Update VI: We have a ballgame, folks. In the top of the sixth, pinch-hitter Scott Hairston was hit by a pitch to start the inning. Span and Cabrera then followed with back-to-back singles. Cabrera's single scored Hairston to give the Nats their first run of the game. Rendon then hit a three-run homer to cut the Braves' lead to 7-4 in the sixth. Strasburg's night is done. He pitched five innings, allowed seven hits, seven earned runs, walked two and struck out nine. The game moved into a rain delay just as the bottom of the sixth was set to begin. Update VII: The Nats and Braves game is back under way after a rain delay of one hour and 11 minutes. Ross Detwiler is on to pitch the bottom of the sixth. Update VIII: The Nats are creeping back. In the seventh, Wilson Ramos lead off the inning with a solo homer to cut the Braves' lead to 7-5. Following the homer, Frandsen reached base on an error. One out later, Span singled to advance Frandsen to third. Span is now hitting .304 this season. Frandsen then scored on Cabrera's sacrifice fly. The Nats trail 7-6 as the game moves to the bottom of the seventh. Update IX: And that's a ballgame as the Nats have fallen 7-6 to the Braves. The Nats' divsional lead is now down to 3 1/2 games as the Braves snap their eight-game losing steak. Strasburg was tagged with the loss and falls to 8-10 on the season. The Nats are now 62-52.