Bryce Elder’s strong pitching leads Braves against Nationals

The Atlanta Braves were back home for a three-game series against the Washington Nationals on Memorial Day weekend. A busy weekend in Atlanta will also include the Atlanta Jazz Festival and Momo Con.

But the show was at Truist Park, where the Braves and Nationals played an extra-innings game that ended in a walk-off hit by Chadwick Tromp. The first of his career.

This game had a bit of everything, including RBI singles from Tromp (who?) and Mauricio Dubin that tied the game at 4 in the 10th inning.

“We’ve been getting performances like that from everybody. There’s a lot of good stuff going on,” said Braves manager Walt Weiss after the game.

Braves right-hander Bryce Elder made his 11th start of the season. He had won his only other start against the Nationals on April 20. The Braves won 9-4, and Elder gave up three runs while striking out six Nationals during his 6.2 innings of work.

On Friday night, Elder was in full control of his pitches and poise. Through the first five innings of the game, Elder held the Nationals’ lineup scoreless and without a legitimate threat to score. And he did that with only 71 pitches.

It was pitch number 78 that mattered the most, though. On a full count, Nationals third baseman Curtis Mead took Elder’s fastball over the left field fence to give Washington a 1-0 lead in the sixth inning.

Elder finished the game with a line of: 6 innings, 1 earned run, 4 strikeouts. Another solid outing for the one-time All-Star.

It took seven innings for the Braves’ offense to get going. Harris II got things started with an infield single, then Austin Riley drew a walk. He already had a pair of singles when he came to the plate for his third at-bat. Riley (3-3 with a walk tonight) is in the midst of a slump, but he had played well in Miami in the last series. With two runners on base and the Braves down 1-0, Dom Smith singles to right field to drive Harris II in and tie the game. Smith is batting over .340 with 22 RBI.

A batter later, Ha-Seong Kim came to the plate with a .111 batting average and decided to help himself and the team with a bunt single that drove in another run, 2-1 Braves. That was Kim’s second RBI of the season. Acuna, Jr. ended the inning with a pop-fly to center, but the damage was done.

Atlanta native and Washington shortstop CJ Abrams always plays well when he returns home, and Friday night was no exception. Abrams hit a solo home run in the eighth inning to tie the game at 2-2. The home run was Abrams’ 11th of the season.

Abrams would double home two more runs in the 10th to put his team ahead 4-2.

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