Sean Murphy and Ronald Acuna Jr. each hit three-run home runs to help lift the visiting Atlanta Braves to a 9-0 victory over the Washington Nationals on Wednesday afternoon.
The game was delayed by rain for an hour and 26 minutes in the top of the fourth inning.
Elieser Hernandez (2-0) threw three scoreless innings in relief, allowing one hit while striking out one and walking one, to earn the win. Atlanta starter Grant Holmes tossed three no-hit innings before the delay.
Austin Riley drove in two runs for the Braves (83-57), who snapped a two-game skid.
Brad Lord started and hurled 3 1/3 scoreless frames for Washington (67-75). He allowed two hits, struck out six and walked one. Riley Cornelio (2-2), Lord’s replacement after the delay, allowed three runs on three hits over 2 2/3 innings, striking out three and walking one. The Nationals had won five of their last six entering play.
Lord fanned five of the first six batters he faced before Mike Yastrzemski began the third with a bunt single for the Braves’ first hit.
After Acuna led off the fourth with a single and Matt Olson struck out, Ozzie Albies fouled a ball off the mask of Washington catcher Keibert Ruiz, who exited with an injury.
Albies eventually walked and Michael Harris II reached on third baseman Andres Chaparro’s fielding error to load the bases. Cornelio relieved Lord when play resumed. Murphy lined out sharply to second and Yastrzemski flew out to the wall in right, ending the visitors’ first threat.
Dylan Dodd replaced Holmes and allowed a two-out walk to Dylan Crews in the fourth for the Nationals’ first baserunner.
Acuna singled and stole second to begin the sixth, before Cornelio struck out Olson and Albies. After intentionally walking Harris, Murphy muscled his third home run of the season to left field to break the scoreless deadlock.
James Wood singled in the sixth for the Nationals’ first hit, but Hernandez got Abimelec Ortiz to pop out, preserving Atlanta’s three-run lead.
Facing Max Kranick in the seventh, Ha-Seong Kim doubled and Drake Baldwin walked before Acuna hit the 200th home run of his major league career to extend the lead to 6-0.
Atlanta tacked on in the eighth. Murphy walked, Yastrzemski doubled and both scored on Riley’s single to left.
Murphy drove in the game’s final run with an RBI single off Washington second baseman Jose Tena in the ninth.
–Field Level Media
