Homer-happy Braves beat Nationals in D.C. slugfest

Flowers was 0-for-4 with three strikeouts before he took a 2-0 pitch and sent it the opposite way into the Washington bullpen in right field off Albers (2-1).
The winning pitcher was Jason Motte (1-0), who pitched a scoreless eighth.
Jim Johnson pitched the ninth for his 13th save despite allowing an RBI single to Trea Turner. Johnson got Bryce Harper to fly out to end the game with a runner on base.
Matt Adams added three hits, including two homers, and four RBIs for the Braves, including a solo shot off reliever Jacob Turner in the eighth that trimmed the lead to 9-7.
Ender Inciarte had a sacrifice fly off reliever Enny Romero to make it 9-8 to set the stage for the ninth-inning rally.
Matt Kemp (two hits) and Nick Markakis also homered for the Braves. Harper and Turner went deep for Washington.
Brian Goodwin, Michael A. Taylor, Turner and Matt Lind had three hits for Washington, and Matt Wieters and Daniel Murphy had two.

 

Nationals starter Stephen Strasburg allowed seven hits and six earned runs in five innings. He got his 10th strikeout on his 100th pitch as he fanned Flowers for the third time in the fifth inning. That was the last pitch of the night for Strasburg, as Turner took over in the sixth.
The first-place Nationals (38-25) have lost four in a row.
The Braves (28-35) entered hitting just .121 in their last 33 at-bats with runners in scoring position.
That was quickly improved upon as Nick Markakis hit a two-run homer in the first with Inciarte on second base. Kemp, the next batter, crushed a 3-2 pitch into the bleachers in center off Strasburg to give the Braves a 3-0 lead.
Washington got two runs in the last of the first. Turner led off with a homer to straightway center and Harper, who followed with a walk, eventually scored on an RBI single by Wieters.
Those runs broke a streak of 14 scoreless innings by Foltynewicz, the Atlanta starter.
Goodwin led off the second with a solo homer, his second homer in as many days, to tie the score at 3. Later in the inning, the speedy Turner scored on a sacrifice fly by Anthony Rendon as the Nationals took a 4-3 lead.
The Braves got another homer on a 3-2 pitch from Strasburg in the third as Adams went deep for a three-run shot to give Atlanta a 6-4 edge.
Strasburg helped himself as he drove in a run on a groundout in the last of the third to trim the lead to 6-5.
Harper hit the third leadoff homer in four innings for the Nationals, as his solo shot tied the score at 6 to begin a four-run inning. The Nationals took the lead at 7-6 later in the fourth on an RBI double by Adam Lind as Inciarte, the Atlanta center fielder, lost the ball in the twilight.
That was the end of the night for Foltynewicz, who gave up 11 hits and eight runs in 3 1/3 innings.
Michael A. Taylor had an RBI single off reliever Sam Freeman later in the fourth to make it 8-6. Taylor then scored all the way from first on a single to right by Goodwin to give the Nationals a 9-6 lead.
NOTES: The Braves took RHP Kyle Wright in the first round with the fifth overall pick in the MLB First-Year Player Draft. Atlanta SS Dansby Swanson, a product of Vanderbilt, was drafted first overall in 2015. Washington picked LHP Seth Romero, who was kicked off the team at the University of Houston in May, with the 25th overall pick. … The Nationals called up RHP Trevor Gott from Triple-A Syracuse. To make room for Gott, the Nationals sent INF Wilmer Difo to Syracuse. … Atlanta RHP R.A. Dickey (4-4, 4.73) will face Washington RHP Joe Ross (3-2, 6.16) on Tuesday. … Washington has scored at least one run in every game this season.