WASHINGTON _ Atlanta Braves right-hander Mike Foltynewicz may have been unlucky on Wilmer Difo's infield single in the second inning. He definitely found misfortune on Washington Nationals outfielder Jayson Werth's two-out, bloop single that scored a run.
In between those ill-fated plays, however, Foltynewicz walked Trea Turner on four pitches. Foltynewicz has said he's worked on better controlling his emotions but he showed visible frustration after the sequence that led to that run.
That turned out to be just a flash of passion, not a harbinger of bad things. Foltynewicz regained his footing and struck out Daniel Murphy and then went on to finish six strong innings.
Reliever Chris Withrow blew a two-run lead in the seventh inning to cost Foltynewicz the win and the Nationals went on to win 5-4 on Wilson Ramos' game-ending single in the bottom of the 11th. The Nationals swept the Braves and improved to 14-2 against them this season.
Braves rookie reliever Jed Bradley walked Jayson Werth to lead off the 10th. Murphy followed with a double to right-field but Werth stopped at third base. Braves interim manager intentionally walked Bryce Harper and brought in Brandon Cunniff to face Ramos, who hit a line drive to center field.
The Braves had gone ahead 4-3 in top of the 10th when outfielder Nick Markakis hit a bloop double to shallow left field against Trevor Gott. Tyler Flowers walked before Jace Peterson singled to left and Markakis beat Werth's throw to the plate.
In the bottom of the 10th the Nationals got back-to-back singles with one out against Braves reliever Jim Johnson. Anthony Rendon hit a slow-rolling grounder down the left-field line that scored Danny Espinosa from third.
After the early trouble, Foltynewicz limited the Nationals to just two base runners from the third through sixth innings. He allowed one run on five hits over six innings with eight strikeouts and three walks.
The Braves tied the game on Adonis Garcia's RBI double in the third inning. They pushed across one run in the sixth inning after loading the bases with no outs and then added rookie Dansby Swanson's homer in the seventh.
Bad luck turned against the Nationals in the top of the second inning when the injury forced right-hander Stephen Strasburg to leave the game.
Strasburg had just been activated from a stint on the disabled list because of elbow soreness. He last pitched for the Nationals on Aug. 17, when the Rockies lit him up for nine runs before he went on the DL days later.
Strasburg retired seven of nine Braves hitters faced with four strikeouts. Swanson hit a double to lead off the third inning. Strasburg struck out the next batter, Foltynewicz, and immediately winced in pain.
Left -hander Sean Burnett relieved Strasburg and retired Ender Inciarte. Garcia followed with a line drive down the right-field line that got by Harper for a double that scored Swanson. Burnett struck out Freddie Freeman to get out of the inning.
The Braves scored a go-ahead run against right-hander Lucas Giolito in the sixth. He gave up consecutive singles to Freddie Freeman, Matt Kemp and Markakis to load the bases with no outs.
Flowers hit a sharp grounded through the middle of the infield that shortstop Espinosa smothered with a diving play behind second base. He flipped the ball to Murphy to force out of Markakis but Freeman scored.
Peterson hit into a double play to end the inning, leaving Foltynewicz with a one-run lead. Nationals catcher Ramos doubled to lead off the bottom of the inning and went to third on a wild pitch with one out. He didn't run when a pitch got past Flowers, and then Foltynewicz struck out Difo to end the inning.
