WASHINGTON _ Daniel Murphy switched teams this offseason but didn't alter his assault on Braves pitching. And even in defeat, the Braves showed they're no pushover and haven't been for some time now despite having the majors' worst record.
Murphy had a first-inning home run and four RBIs and the Nationals hung on for a 7-6 win Saturday night against the Braves in front of a sellout crowd at Nationals Park. The Braves trailed 7-1 before scoring a run in the eighth and four in the ninth.
After RBI singles from pinch-hit Jeff Francoeur and Ender Inciarte in the ninth, Erick Aybar hit a two-run double and was out trying to stretch it to a triple. Freddie Freeman followed with a long fly out to the right-field warning track that would've advanced Aybar to third if he'd not been thrown out on the previous play.
Freeman put the Braves ahead with a two-out solo homer in the first inning, his fourth in as many days, but Murphy answered with a two-run homer in the first against rookie Rob Whalen.
From there the Nationals cruised to their 15th win in 16 games against the Braves at Nationals Park since the start of the 2015 season, after the Braves won Friday's series opener to snap their franchise's longest losing streak at a road ballpark in more than 60 years.
Murphy has hit .440 (11-for-24) with three home runs and eight RBIs in eight games against the Braves this season, after totaling eight extra-base hits and 11 RBIs in his last eight games against them as a New York Met.
Nationals rookie Trea Turner had three hits including a leadoff triple in the first inning and a leadoff homer in the third, and Murphy added a sacrifice fly in the third and an RBI groundout in the fifth as the Nationals took a 6-1 lead.
Whalen (1-1) was charged with six hits and six runs in five innings, with no walks and five strikeouts. His counterpart, rookie Reynaldo Lopez, limited the Braves to five hits, one run and two walks in seven innings.
Braves prospect Jason Hursh made his major league debut in relief of Whalen and was charged with one run and three hits with one strikeout in the seventh inning.
Whalen and Lopez both are 22-year-old right-handers, and each made his third major league start Saturday.
The Braves didn't put a runner in scoring position against Lopez until the fourth inning, when Nick Markakis hit a one-out double and Adonis Garcia reached on a catcher's interference ruling. With two on, Jace Peterson hit into a fielder's choice before A.J. Pierzynski grounded out to end the inning.
The Braves had two on with none out in the sixth and stranded them when Markakis and Garcia flied out and Peterson grounded out.
Freeman's 23rd home run _ matching his career best done twice before _ gave the Braves an early lead as they sought a win that would've given them their third series win in four (in the other series, they split a four-gamer at Milwaukee).
But Whalen gave up the lead before recording his second out. Turner tripled to the right-center gap to lead off the first inning, and one out later Murphy hit a two-run homer to the second deck in right on a full-count, 89-mph fastball.
Murphy entered Saturday as the National League leader in batting average (.348), slugging percentage (.610), OPS (.999), multi-hit games (45) and go-ahead RBIs. He picked up his 27th go-ahead RBI on the first-inning homer, and four RBIs raised his season total to 88, second-most in the NL.
Freeman has four homers in four games and is 11-for-25 (.440) with five homers, 11 RBIs and 11 walks in his past eight games. He's scored at least once in each game of that eight-game stretch, the longest such scoring streak of his career.
In 55 games since June 13, the first baseman has hit .331 with 37 extra-base hits (five triples, 14 homers) and 36 RBIs.
