Strasburg dominates for seven, Doolittle closes out Braves (updated)

ATLANTA - They got the dominant start they needed from Stephen Strasburg. They got both the power and the patience they needed from their lineup to give them a late lead. They got a near-disaster in the eighth inning from one of the usual suspects out of the bullpen. But when they got an overdue clean ninth inning from Sean Doolittle, the Nationals escaped SunTrust Park with a 5-4 victory over the Braves that felt as needed as any victory they've had in a while.

"Gosh darn it, that was a great win," right fielder Adam Eaton said. "We needed that bad. I'm pretty fired up about it."

It wasn't always pretty, whether due to baserunning blunders, missed opportunities to tack on at the plate or a harrowing eighth inning from Kyle Barraclough. But it was, in the end, a one-run win over a division rival, and those can't be taken for granted these days.

Strasburg set the tone with seven sterling innings on a muggy night in suburban Atlanta, striking out 11 batters along the way. Howie Kendrick delivered a couple of the evening's biggest at-bats: a leadoff double that ignited a three-run rally in the sixth, then a solo homer in the eighth that looked like insurance at the time but proved the difference in the game.

Up three runs in the bottom of the eighth, manager Davey Martinez asked Barraclough to stare down the heart of the Atlanta lineup. He was one pitch away from escaping with a zero on the board, but he couldn't get a high 2-2 fastball past Austin Riley, who belted it to center field for a two-run homer to trim the Nationals' lead to one run.

And so Doolittle was required to pitch the ninth with no margin for error, this on the heels of back-to-back ugly performances by the closer. He delivered a big bounceback outing, striking out Johan Camargo with a changeup, Ronald Acuña Jr. with a fastball and finally Freddie Freeman with a surprise slider to end the game and secure his 10th save.

"That was really big for me," Doolittle said. "And probably an even bigger win for the team."

The 2019 versions of the Nationals and Braves may have been unfamiliar with each other prior to tonight, but there was no unfamiliarity with the Atlanta lineup toward the Nats starter. Strasburg has now faced this club 31 times in his career, and he'd faced four members of tonight's batting order at least 15 times a piece, with Freeman leading the way with 57 career plate appearances.

Familiarity didn't lead to success for the Braves, though, not with Strasburg dialed in from the get-go. After allowing a leadoff single and stolen base to Acuña, he proceeded to retire 10 batters in a row, seven via strikeout. And unlike in most of his previous outings, Strasburg wasn't relying on only one pitch to finish guys off. He recorded multiple strikeouts via all three of his pitches, at times setting batters up with off-speed stuff before finishing them off with fastballs.

"He doesn't have to rely on fastball," Martinez said of the 30-year-old right-hander, now 5-3 with a 3.19 ERA, 0.987 WHIP and 98 strikeouts in 79 innings. "His changeup was great. His curveball was great. And he located his fastball when he needed to. He's just having an unbelievable year."

There was a brief hiccup for Strasburg in the fourth, when the Braves plated two runs. Even that rally, though, was lacking in solid contact. Atlanta's three consecutive singles in the inning came via balls with exit velocities of 55 mph, 73 mph and 72 mph.

"It goes down to executing and making good pitches," Strasburg said. "Sometimes they're gonna hit them and sometimes they're not. But the chances are obviously in your favor."

The Nationals put far more pressure on Braves starter Max Fried, who never retired the side in his six innings of work but did manage to limit the damage most of the night. The Nats got one run home in the fourth thanks to Victor Robles' two-out RBI single and an appropriately aggressive send of Juan Soto around third base by Bobby Henley.

The sustained rally came in the sixth, though that was a product more of patience that power. Back-to-back doubles by Kendrick and Kurt Suzuki tied the game up. Then the Nats started taking pitches, and taking them effectively, to take the lead. After Robles was hit by a pitch for the fourth consecutive game - only two shy of the all-time record - Trea Turner, Eaton and Anthony Rendon all drew walks, the latter two with the bases loaded.

It sounds simple enough. But in that situation, with a team desperate to come through in a big spot, it took some significant discipline for all three of those hitters to keep their bats on their shoulders.

"That's the at-bat you need," Eaton said. "I feel like two weeks ago, I would've struck out and that inning would've been over. But battle our rear ends off, and good things are going to happen."

Once they had taken the lead, Kendrick decided to let it fly. And he was rewarded with his ninth homer of the season, an opposite-field shot in the top of the seventh that extended the lead to 5-2 and continued the 35-year-old utilityman's torrid first half of the season.

"He's been there, done that," Eaton said of Kendrick, now sporting a .945 OPS. "He's been in the playoffs. He's seen a lot in this game. He gives you his effort every single day. It's unwavering. And it's awesome to see at his age. He's one of the best teammates I've had."