Washington Nationals (7-5) at Atlanta Braves (6-6) RHP Max Scherzer [1-1, 2.13] | RHP Mike Foltynewicz [0-1, 6.35] Tuesday, April 18 L 7:35 P.M
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Washington Nationals (7-5) at Atlanta Braves (6-6) RHP Max Scherzer [1-1, 2.13] | RHP Mike Foltynewicz [0-1, 6.35] Tuesday, April 18 l 7:35 p.m. l Game #13 / Road #4 l SunTrust Park l Atlanta, GA Television: MASN2 l Radio: 106.7 FM The Fan & Nationals Radio Network Standing: 7-5, 1st place, National League East • Home: 6-3 • Road: 1-2 • Streak: W1 • Last Five: 3-2 • Last Ten: 5-5 NATIONALS NEWS OPPONENT IT AIN’T OVER ‘TIL IT’S OVER... ATLANTA BRAVES The Washington Nationals were down to their final strike on Sunday afternoon at Nation- The Nationals and Braves will meet 19 times this season (10 times in D.C., 9 in Atlanta)...Na- als Park when RF Bryce Harper delivered a walk-off, three-run home run on the 3-2 pitch tionals manager Dusty Baker was selected by Atlanta in the 26th round of the 1967 amateur from Phillies RHP Joaquin Benoit to seal the series victory for Washington and wrap up a draft...Baker went on to play eight seasons with the Braves, often batting behind Hall of Famer 4-2 homestand...Harper, who also homered in the third inning, enjoyed his 11th career multi- Hank Aaron, hitting .278 with 11 doubles, eight triples, 77 home runs, 324 RBI, 253 walks, homer game and the fourth walk-off home run of his career. 58 stolen bases and 311 runs scored in 628 games from 1968-1975...Braves C Kurt Suzuki • Since 2013, when Harper hit his first walk-off home run (July 25, 2013 vs. PIT), no player in (2012-2013) and LHP Ian Krol (2013) are former Nationals now playing in Atlanta. the National League has clubbed as many game-ending home runs as Harper (four times), via the Elias Sports Bureau...Only TOR’s Josh Donaldson has hit more in that span (7), THE SERIES while PIT’s Starling Marte and ARI’s Paul Goldschmidt are tied with Harper at four. The Nationals and Braves have played 221 games since 2005, with the record giving a slight • Harper’s home run, as noted, came on a 3-2 pitch...Per Elias, Harper entered this season edge to the Nationals at 116-105...The Nationals are 36-13 against the Braves since June 21, with 10 career homers on a full count, but he’s already hit two this season alone, both 2014 and went 14-5 against Atlanta in 2015, including a 10-0 mark at Nationals Park...Accord- against the Phillies...Harper’s home runs on Sunday were his 17th and 18th career long- ing to Elias, it was the first time in Nationals history (2005-pres.) that Washington swept a sea- balls vs. PHI -- the second-most by any active player against the Phillies (NYM Lucas son series at home against a divisional opponent...WSH was even better in 2016, going 15-4. Duda, 1st, 20). • The win was the Nationals’ first of the season via walk-off home run, their second walk-off 2017 / BY THE NUMBERS win, and their sixth come-from-behind victory of the year. 2016 W-L ..................................................................................0-0 (0-0 in D.C., 0-0 in Atlanta) Streak (since 2016) .........................................................................................................Lost 2 HITTING THE ROAD Aggregate Score / 2017 ..........................................................................Nationals 0, Braves 0 The Nationals will open their first prolonged road trip of the 2017 on Tuesday night in Atlanta Home Runs Hit / 2017 .............................................................................Nationals 0, Braves 0 as they make their inaugural visit to SunTrust Park for a three-game series vs. their divisional rivals...Washington will travel to New York late Thursday night and open a three-game set vs. ALL-TIME SERIES / BY THE NUMBERS the Mets on Friday...After a Sunday Night Baseball (ESPN) contest at 8 p.m. on Sunday, the W-L / Nationals (2005-present) ....................................................................................116-105 Nationals will head west to Colorado for four games to wrap up the trip. W-L / Home (2005-present) ..............................................................................................67-44 W-L / Nationals Park (2008-present) ................................................................................53-31 HERE HE COMES TO SAVE THE DAY W-L / Away (2005-present) ...............................................................................................49-61 New Nationals CF Adam Eaton isn’t wasting any time currying favor with his new club as W-L / Franchise (Expos/Nationals) ...............................................................................330-347 the outfielder has reached base safely in all 11 of the games he’s started this season, and hit safely in nine of the 11 (Eaton was 0-for-1 as a pinch-hitter on Saturday)...Eaton was 3-for-5 2017 AGAINST THE BRAVES DATE RESULT WIN-LOSS-SV TOG DATE RESULT WIN-LOSS-SV TOG with a double and two runs scored, including the decisive run as he reached base with a single 4/18@ 7/6 to left field two batters ahead of Harper in the ninth on Sunday. 4/19@ 7/7 4/20@ 7/8 • Eaton enters Tuesday’s game ranked eighth in the National League in on-base percentage 5/19@ 7/9 (.434). 5/20@ 9/12 5/21@ 9/13 6/12 9/14 MurphVP 6/13 9/19@ 2B Daniel Murphy went 1-for-4 with a double on Sunday, picking up right where he left off 6/14 9/20@ 9/21@ on Friday, before his season-opening 10-game hitting streak was halted on Saturday...The 10-game streak was the longest streak to start a season in his career, and it is tied for the TRANSACTIONS AND DISABLED LIST longest streak in the Major Leagues this season...The runner-up for the 2016 NL MVP is now 3/20 ���Reassigned LHP Braulio Lara, C Spencer Kieboom, INF Neftali Soto, and INF Grant Green to Minor batting .396 on the year and leads the Major Leagues with 21 hits (T1st, SDP’s Wil Myers). League camp. • Murphy, who posted 56 multi-hit games in 2016 (5th in NL), has picked up at least two hits 3/24 ���Reassigned RHP Erick Fedde to Minor League camp. in seven of the Nationals’ 12 games this season, tied for the lead in MLB in that category... 3/25 ���Optioned C Pedro Severino, RHP Rafael Martín and OF Brian Goodwin to Triple-A Syracuse...Reas- signed INF Emmanuel Burriss to Minor League camp. Since the start of the 2016 season, Murphy’s 63 multi-hit games are second-most in the 3/26 ���Reassigned INF/OF Brandon Snyder to Minor League camp. National League...Only Mookie Betts (71), Jose Altuve (67) and DJ LeMahieu (65) have 3/27 ���Unconditionally released RHP Joe Nathan and RHP Matt Albers. more in that span. 3/29 ���Optioned RHP A.J. Cole and RHP Trevor Gott to Triple-A Syracuse...Reassigned RHP Jacob Turner, LHP Neal Cotts and C Jhonatan Solano to Minor League camp...Released RHP Vance Worley. 3/31 ���Assigned 1B/OF Clint Robinson outright to Triple-A Syracuse. THE ART OF HITTING .300 4/1 �����Optioned RHP Joe Ross to Triple-A Syracuse...Reassigned RHP Jeremy Guthrie to Minor League The Nationals entered Tuesday’s game with six members of their regular lineup hitting above camp. 4/8 �����Selected the contract of RHP Jeremy Guthrie...Optioned OF Michael A. Taylor to Triple-A Syracuse. the .300 mark...CF Adam Eaton (.326), RF Bryce Harper (.333), 2B Daniel Murphy (.396), 4/9 �����Selected the contract of RHP Matt Albers...Designated RHP Jeremy Guthrie for assignment. 1B Ryan Zimmerman (.333), LF Jayson Werth (.300), and C Matt Wieters (.314) are all 4/10 ���Placed SS Trea Turner on the 10-day disabled list (right hamstring strain)...Recalled OF Michael A. Taylor from Triple-A Syracuse. averaging at or above baseball’s benchmark. 4/12 ���Selected the contract of INF Grant Green...Placed INF Stephen Drew on the 10-day disabled list (right • Adding in 1B/OF Adam Lind, who is hitting .385 this season (5-for-13), the Nationals have hamstring strain). more hitters (7) with a .300 batting average or higher than any other team in the Major Leagues...Atlanta ranks second with six. DISABLED LIST PLAYER INJURY 10/60 DL PLACED / RETRO REINSTATED #GAMES NO LEFT TURN Jose Marmolejos L. Forearm Strain 60 2/24 12 Trea Turner R. Hamstring Strain 10 4/10 / 4/9 7 Though much has been discussed about Washington stacking lefties in their lineup, no team Stephen Drew R. Hamstring Strain 10 4/12 4 in the Major Leagues has had fewer plate appearances vs. left-handed pitching than the Nationals (28 PA)...Meanwhile, Washington is leading MLB in batting average (.478), on-base DUSTY BAKER Nationals manager Dusty Baker was named the sixth field manager in Nationals history on percentage (.536) and slugging percentage (.696) against left-handed pitching...The most Nov. 3, 2015. A three-time N.L. Manager of the Year (1993, 1997, 2000), and a finalist in 2016, common lefties to be stacked in manager Dusty Baker’s lineup are CF Adam Eaton, RF Baker’s clubs have won 90 games or more on nine occasions. With a victory on April 10 vs. STL, Bryce Harper and 2B Daniel Murphy, who have combined to go 6-for-10 with three walks, a Baker became the 16th winningest manager in baseball history, passing Jim Leyland to move double, and an RBI vs. LHP this year. into the No. 16 spot alone on the all-time list...His 1,773-1,571 career managerial record slots him second in the win column among active managers behind only SFG’s Bruce Bochy (No. CLOSING IN ON SOME GREATS 15, 1,794). Lou Piniella is 14th on the all-time list with 1,835 victories.