WASHINGTON — The Braves beat the Nationals, 6-3, on Saturday at Nationals Park as Atlanta continued its dominance over Washington. The game was slowed by an eighth-inning rain delay that lasted 1 hour, 49 minutes, but the teams resumed the contest and completed nine frames.
Atlanta is 56-37.
Here are five observations:
1. Hours after finding out MLB added him to the National League All-Star roster, Austin Riley proved why the event could not occur without him.
In the third inning, Riley followed Matt Olson’s home run with a 418-foot shot of his own. Riley’s 27 home runs in the first half are the most by any Braves player since Andruw Jones hit 27 before the All-Star break in 2005.
“That guy, he’s the real deal,” manager Brian Snitker said. “He’s just a really, really good player. He’s All-Star-caliber. Hopefully he’s in the MVP talk in another couple of months.”
The impressive part about Riley’s day is something you couldn’t see in the box score: He was a few feet away from a three-homer game. Along with his home run, he doubled off the wall in right-center field in the first inning and flew out to the wall in left-center field in the fifth.
Riley has performed like an All-Star, especially in July. He could find himself in the MVP conversation if he continues hitting like this.
2. Max Fried has been one of the game’s best pitchers through half of this season.
His 2.64 ERA ranks seventh in the NL. His 109 strikeouts rank eighth. He has pitched 119 1/3 innings, the third-most in the NL.
“I feel good,” Fried said when asked how he feels going into the break. “It’s nice to get some time off and to be able to kind of reset and refocus for the second half. I think we’ve been playing really well as a team, and trying to finish this first half strong.”
In Saturday’s win, Fried allowed three runs on seven hits over seven innings. He can feel good as he heads home to Los Angeles for the All-Star Game.
Asked what he expects next week to be like, Fried said: “Hectic, crazy. As far as the schedule is right now, it seems like it’s pretty nonstop. It’ll be exciting. I’m excited to go back and see family and friends, and kind of just enjoy a couple days back at home.”
3. Olson has homered in four of his last five games.
Olson started Saturday’s win with a three-run home run off Paolo Espino in the third inning. It gave the Braves an early lead they never lost the rest of the way.
Olson homered in three straight games from Tuesday through Thursday, too. He has 17 home runs and 59 RBIs.
“He’s a big bat in the middle of that lineup,” Fried said. “He can hurt you line to line, as you saw this series. He can hit extra-base hits to left field, to right field, to center field. He’s a complete hitter and he’s a really big part of this lineup.
“I look up and he’s chewing up some RBIs too all of the sudden,” Snitker said. “We’ve got some guys having really good years.”
4. The Nationals pulled within a run by scoring one off Fried in the bottom of the sixth.
Immediately, Atlanta’s offense provided insurance.
In the top of the seventh, Dansby Swanson’s double scored Michael Harris. Later in the inning, Travis d’Arnaud’s two-out, run-scoring single gave the Braves a three-run lead.
5. The Braves have won nine straight games over the Nationals. Atlanta is 10-2 versus Washington this season.
The Braves have outscored the Nationals 66-30 over the nine-game winning streak. Three of the victories came during Atlanta’s 14-game win streak.
The Braves are 33-10 since the start of June, which is the majors’ best record over that span.
“We got going playing the way we’re capable of,” Snitker said. “We’ve sustained it for a long time now. The way the guys come out and they prepare and the way they’re playing every game is really, really good.”
Stat to know
9 — After Olson and Riley went back to back in the third inning, the Braves have hit back-to-back homers nine times this season.
Quotable
“For me, it’s just whatever happened in the past is in the past. You’ve just got to focus on what’s coming up next and right now. Whether you had three really good starts or three really bad starts, it doesn’t really matter because you can’t change that. You do everything you can to prepare for the next one and kind of bring it.” — Fried on how he remained consistent in the first half
Up next
Spencer Strider takes the mound as the Braves close the first half on Sunday. First pitch is at 1:35 p.m.
