Nats flip script to end losing streak, blast past Braves (updated)

ATLANTA – It was raining heavily here this morning. There was a point when the forecast didn’t look conducive to playing baseball.

But the rain cleared out, the tarp was removed from the infield and this afternoon’s finale between the Nationals and Braves went off without a hitch.

And as the clouds cleared out for sunny skies, so did the clouds that have been hovering over this Nationals team this last week.

The Nats snapped their six-game losing streak, and in the process also snapped the Braves’ seven-game winning streak, with a 6-2 victory in front of 36,744 fans at Truist Park.

Just as I wrote this morning that the Nats were in search of more power, they found it.

And just as the Braves used two two-run home runs in the second inning to power themselves to a 6-4 win yesterday, the Nats used two two-run homers in the sixth inning to finally flex some muscle.

“It was a good win," manager Davey Martinez said after the game. "A good way to leave Atlanta. The boys played well."

Luis García started the sixth with a leadoff double into the right field corner. After moving to third on a wild pitch by Braves starter Bryce Elder (who entered the day with a National League-best 2.26 ERA), García scored on Joey Meneses’ RBI single to left to tie the game at 2-2. That knock extended Meneses’ career-high on-base streak to 18 games, the longest active streak in the majors.

Then the bops came raining down.

Jeimer Candelario hit a first-pitch slider from Elder 360 feet to right field, just high enough to get over the tall wall below the Chop House. His eighth homer of the season gave the Nats a 4-2 lead.

“It felt great, man," Candelario said. "Looking for a pitch to hit. I've been really aggressive to the middle, and saw a slider there and put the barrel on the ball.”

Two batters later Keibert Ruiz knocked Elder from the game with his second single off the right-hander. Dominic Smith, needing a big hit in the worst way, crushed a first-pitch fastball from righty reliever Kirby Yates for another two-run shot. The ball traveled 444 feet into the right-center field bleachers for a 6-2 lead, the longest homer of Smith’s seven-year major league career.

“Did not, no," Smith said when asked if he knew that was the longest homer of his career. "But when I hit it, it felt flushed like a golf ball. I knew I got it. But it was a great swing. It's something I know that's inside of me. I just got to consistently bring it out.”

Smith entered the day hitting .262 with a .299 slugging percentage and .643 OPS. It was his second homer of the season and first since the second game of a doubleheader against the Pirates on April 29. It was also his first extra-base hit since he hit a double on May 29 at Dodger Stadium.

A lot of frustration taken out on one swing.

“Just trying to hit a ball hard somewhere," he said. "I know a lot of times when I'm kind of passive early in counts, they get ahead, and just wanted to kind of surprise him right there. It was a pitch I could drive and hit it hard. It felt great. It felt really good.”

The homers came at a good time, since this game started the way yesterday’s went, with the Braves out-slugging the Nats.

Trevor Williams gave up a leadoff single to Ronald Acuña Jr. and then a monster two-run home run to Matt Olson. The lefty slugger crushed a 90 mph inside fastball 421 feet onto the Chop House roof for a quick 2-0 lead.

But the veteran right-hander settled in from there. He retired 15 of the final 21 batters he faced, only giving up four singles, a double and a walk to complete five innings on 84 pitches, 53 strikes. He also struck out six to match his season high, which he set in his last start against the Phillies.

“I think going into the game today we had a good game plan," Williams said. "It's nice going third or fourth during the series. You kind of get a look at what they're doing. They were coming into the series hot and they still are hot. So it's something that we were able to kind of attack the edges with fastball and with spin. Thankfully, the defense made some great plays behind us, especially when we had runners on.”

He made some good pitches and benefited from his defense while escaping a bases-loaded jam in the fourth, when the Nats had just made it a 2-1 game with Ruiz's RBI single in the top of the frame.

“It's just a matter of execution," Williams said. "Sometimes, depending on the hitter, they'll hang with you, they'll foul pitches off. It depends on the team approach and it depends on the hitter's approach. They're a really good hitting squad. They're a really good hitting team and it's just a matter of executing your pitches. I didn't execute one pitch today and it was hit about a mile. Other than that, we pitched a really good game. But that starts with Keibert staying in there. And it started with JoJo in Game 1.”

Williams' fastball also topped out at 93 mph, well above his 90 mph average for the year.

"That's my top right there. That's my everything," he said. "It's a fun environment to play in here. It's a good team. And against good players, you want your best stuff, and it's best stuff on best stuff. So for us to do that is huge.”

Carl Edwards Jr. pitched two scoreless innings of relief, followed by Kyle Finnegan and Hunter Harvey, who pitched for the first time since June 2.

“Trevor settled down and gave us some good five innings, and then CEJ, Finnegan and Harvey closed the game down, which was awesome," Martinez said. "But today, Dom with the big two-run homer, Candy with a big two-run homer, so they lead the way. So it was a good game.”

Now the Nats are hoping the sunshine, power and winning follow them to Houston.

“I think we, as a team collectively, put it in the back of our minds just because we know that we can only control the task at hand on that day," Smith said. "So we know that we can only win one game that day. We can't control what will happen in the future or what's happened in the past. We can only control the present, and that's what we handled today.

"We know we got an off-day tomorrow and we look forward to carry the momentum into Houston, another pretty good ballclub. But we feel like we can play with anybody. And I think that's the confidence that we need, but still we just gotta keep putting it on paper, keep doing it, keep winning, keep playing hard. And I think if we just can capitalize off a win like this and keep it going, anything can happen.”