WASHINGTON _ Julio Teheran was sharp enough that he didn't need a lot of run support on the way to winning his fourth consecutive start and beating the Nationals for the third straight time Tuesday. He didn't need it, but he got plenty.
Birthday boy Freddie Freeman had three hits including a three-run homer, surging rookie Ozzie Albie had three hits including a homer and Ender Inciarte and Johan Camargo had two doubles apiece for the Braves, who pounded Washington 8-0 in a series opener at Nationals Park.
The Braves had nine extra-base hits, scored five runs in five innings against veteran left-hander Gio Gonzalez and recorded their fifth win in six games after losing five of the previous six.
Teheran (11-11) pitched seven impressive innings and allowed seven hits and two walks with five strikeouts to win his fourth consecutive start and also win his third consecutive start against Washington, all at Nationals Park. He helped himself with a two-out RBI single in the sixth that pushed the lead to 6-0.
After scuffling for much of the season, Teheran has finally hit his stride in the second half. He's 4-1 with a 2.32 ERA in his past six starts with 35 strikeouts, 14 walks and only two homers in 39 innings.
That includes a microscopic 0.44 ERA in his past three road starts, the other two coming in hitter-friendly ballparks at Colorado and Philadelphia.
The Braves improved to 7-7 against Washington including 5-3 at Nationals Park. This after going 9-29 against Washington during the 2016-2016 seasons including 1-19 at Nationals Parks.
As for Teheran, he's 3-0 with an 0.86 ERA in his past three starts against Washington, all at Nationals Park, after going 0-3 with a 6.11 ERA and 11 homers allowed in eight consecutive Braves losses against the Nationals from late June 2014 through his first start against them this season on April 19.
There was no cute, ironic chopping from Nationals fans on this night. Not like Sunday, when thousands of Nationals fans stuck around after their team's game Sunday to see the end of the Braves-Marlins game shown on the videoboard at Nationals Park.
A Braves win against the Marlins was needed for Washington to clinch the National League East title, and Washington fans actually did the Braves' chop and chant during the 11th inning when the Braves completed a 10-8 walk-off win on Lane Adams' home run.
There was no chopping Tuesday from the small Nationals crowd of 22,769 on Tuesday night, but there was plenty of exiting by the seventh inning, when the Nationals put two runners on base for the third time, but the first time with less than two outs after Adam Lind hit a leadoff double and Matt Wieters walked with one out.
Teheran promptly induced an inning-ending double-play grounder from pinch-hitter Victor Robles, and fans headed in droves for the Metrorail station two blocks away.
The Nationals' Gonzalez gave up seven hits and five runs in five innings and fell to a personal-worst 4-11 with a 5.27 ERA in 20 career starts against the Braves, including 0-3 in seven starts over the past two seasons.
The veteran lefty doesn't have more than six losses against any other team, and here's how he's fared against the other National League East teams: 10-3 with a 1.85 ERA in 16 starts against the Marlins; 14-5 with a 2.93 ERA in 23 starts against the Mets, and 10-6 with a 2.60 ERA in 22 starts against the Phillies.
The Nationals have lost four consecutive games he started against the Braves and he's lasted fewer than six innings in five of his past six starts against them. Wednesday marked just the second time in his past nine starts that Gonzalez allowed more than two earned runs, but it was the third time in his past five starts against the Braves that he allowed five or six runs in five or fewer innings.
After Matt Kemp's first-inning RBI single, Freeman broke the game open with a three-run homer in the third inning. He's now hitting 14-for-30 (.467) with two homers, eight RBIs in eight games on his birthday.
Albies extended his hitting streak to 10 games with a first-inning single, then added another single in the third inning. He stole second base and scored on Matt Kemp's two-out single for a 1-0 lead in the first inning, and was on first base when Freeman hit his three-run homer in the third inning.
Then Albies got into the extra-base parade when he led off the seventh inning with his third home run and the switch-hitter's first batting left-handed. He went deep against right-hander A.J. Cole, and Freeman followed with an opposite-field double, later scoring on Kurt Suzuki's ground-rule double.
Albies' fellow rookie infielder Camargo doubled in each of his first two at-bats in the second and fourth innings, leading off the latter and scoring two outs later on Ender Inciarte's double as the Braves pushed the lead to 5-0.
