Washington Nationals suffer 16-4 loss to Braves a night after 11-2 win in Atlanta…

This one got ugly early, and kept getting uglier… 16-4 final for the Braves in the 2nd of 3 for the Nationals in Atlanta…

Man-U-Fact-Ured [clap, clap, clapclapclap]:

Cesár Hernández bunted his way on, dropping one down on a first-pitch sinker, then Juan Soto sent a 90 MPH 1-0 sinker from Atlanta Braves’ starter Bryce Elder back up the middle, off the mound, and into center at 113 MPH, putting runners on the corners with no one out in the right-handed starter’s MLB debut, but the 22-year-old, 2020 5th Round pick dialed up a 3-6-3 DP off Josh Bell’s bat, on which a run did score, 1-0 Nats, and a called third strike on Yadiel Hernández allowed him to limit the damage after a tough start to the first inning.

Corbin Start No. 2:

Patrick Corbin tossed four scoreless in his first outing of the season back on Opening Day, but he ended up having two earned runs in his pitching line, after running into trouble in the top of the fifth with a couple of singles around a walk, and a bases-loaded hit-by-pitch, which ended his outing.

Start No. 2 began with a scoreless 20-pitch first tonight in Atlanta, but back-to-back singles (by Travis D’Arnaud and Adam Duvall), and a one-out double (by Guillermo Heredia) tied it, 1-1, after the Nationals jumped out to a 1-0 lead, and Ozzie Albies, who started the game with 10 hits in 25 at-bats against Corbin in their head-to-head matchups (over which he’d hit two doubles and three home runs), went down for a 1-1 slider one out later, and drove two runs in with his third career double off the Nationals’ starter, 3-1 Braves.

Marcell Ozuna bounced one off the bricks above the right field wall for a leadoff double in the bottom of the third inning, took third base on another hit by D’Arnaud, and scored the fourth run of the game for the Braves on a line drive to center off Duvall’s bat that took an odd bounce and skipped by Victor Robles in center, rolling to the wall as the fifth run of the game came around, 5-1, and Duvall took two extra bases. Orlando Arcia added to their lead with a two-run screamer (at 105 MPH) that got by a diving Maikel Franco at third, 6-1.

A single and walk followed before Davey Martinez pulled the plug on Corbin’s outing…

Patrick Corbin’s Line: 2.2 IP, 9 H, 6 R, 5 ER, 3 BB, 3 Ks, 83 P, 50 S, 4/1 GO/FO.

Elder Composure:

Back-to-back singles for the first two batters in his MLB debut could have shook Bryce Elder, but the 22-year-old, 2020 3rd Round pick maintained his composure, got a double play and backwards K in the next two at-bats, limiting the damage to one run in the first, before then going on to retire the next 11 batters he faced to get through four on just 47 pitches with the the one run allowed.

The fifth player from the 2020 draft class overall, “and the second Braves player, to appear in a major league game,” as the club mentioned in their pregame notes, after right-hander Spencer Strider, Elder ended up recording 12 consecutive outs after the back-to-back hits that started the game, and he held the Nationals off the board until the sixth, when he had Juan Soto and Josh Bell hit back-to-back jacks to right that made it 11-3 in the home team’s favor. Second of 2022 for Soto and Bell.

A ground-rule double by Yadiel Hernández in the next at-bat ended Elder’s outing…

Bryce Elder’s Line: 5.2 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 4 Ks, 2 HRs, 85 P, 50 S, 8/2 GO/FO.

Bullpen Action: Austin Voth gave up a leadoff home run by Marcell Ozuna on a belt-high 1-0 fastball outside that the Braves’ slugger hit a long way to center for his first this season, and a 7-1 lead.

Three more runs scored in the bottom of the fourth inning, 10-1 Braves, with an RBI double by Dansby Swanson, RBI single by Orlando Arcia, and an RBI groundout by Ozzie Albies to pad the home team’s lead, and Ozuna homered for the second time in the fifth, with Paolo Espino on for the Nationals, making it an 11-1 game with his second of the season.

Back-to-back, two-out walks, and an infield single loaded the bases with Braves in the 6th, with Espino still on the mound, and Austin Riley doubled to add to the lead, 13-3.

Espino stuck around for the seventh as well, striking out two in a scoreless frame to keep it a 10-run game.

Dee Strange-Gordon took the mound in a blowout in the bottom of the eighth and gave up a solo shot by Ozzie Albies, 14-3.

For your enjoyment for reading this far… MASN’s Mark Zuckerman scored this 3-6-2-5-2-4-5-9… we gave up a couple throws in and assume he’s right:

Also this:

Keibert Ruiz doubled and scored in the top of the ninth, 16-4…

Nationals now 2-4