ATLANTA (AP) — Ronald Acuna Jr. struck out twice and reached base once in his first six at-bats against Nationals ace Max Scherzer.“I think
it helps having some previous at-bats against him
http://www.raysfanproshop.com/authentic-adeiny-hechavarria-jersey ,” Acuna said through a translator. “I just went in with the same approach. I
wanted to have fun out there on the field and have good at-bats.”Acuna went 4
for 5, had two RBIs and scored the tiebreaking run in the fourth inning to help
the NL East-leading Atlanta Braves win their season-best sixth straight game
with a 10-5 victory over the Washington Nationals on Friday night.The Braves
stayed 7½ games ahead of second-place Philadelphia. Any combination of nine
Atlanta victories or Phillies’ losses will give the Braves their first division
title since 2013.Scherzer (17-7) endured his shortest outing of the year, four
innings, while allowing six runs — a season high — and seven hits in 102
pitches.Scherzer, a three-time Cy Young Award winner, was no match for Acuna,
one of baseball’s hottest hitters since the All-Star break.The 20-year-old left
fielder doubled off the wall in his first at-bat. He drove in two runs with a
bloop single in the second. He tripled and scored the tiebreaking run on a
sacrifice fly in the fourth. His single in the eighth gave Acuna a single-game
high in hits.Juan Soto, Washington’s 19-year-old left fielder, was impressive,
too, homering in his fourth straight game and running a long way to catch a
liner in the third. Soto scored the game’s first run in the second after beating
a tag on Acuna’s throw to third. His 20th homer was a solo shot in the fourth.“I
would say I’m definitely having fun sharing the field with him,” Acuna said,
“but I’m always going out there to have a good time on the field every time.”The
third-place Nationals had won four of five, but they dropped to 74-74 and can be
eliminated from the division race by any combination of six Atlanta wins or
Washington losses.Kevin Gausman (10-10) gave up seven hits, two walks and four
runs — three earned — in 5 2/3 innings. Gausman improved to 5-2 with a 2.61 ERA
in eight starts since the Braves acquired him in a trade with
Baltimore.Scherzer, the majors’ active career leader in strikeouts, threw 31
pitches in the second, the worst coming on a two-out
Sergio Romo Jersey , eight-pitch walk to Gausman that loaded the bases. Acuna, the next batter, fought off a slider on his hands to drop the ball into shallow
right field and make it 2-all.“I think with a pitcher of his stature, the only
way you’re going to get to him really is to tire him out,” Gausman said. “It was
pretty hot, and when you have a long inning like that — yeah, the guys were
stringing together some pretty good at-bats and made him work.”Scherzer was
sweating so profusely in the second that he had to replace his hat after Acuna’s
hit. Sweat was rolling off the bill of his cap, affecting Scherzer’s vision, and
he appeared to be struggling with his grip on the ball.“I wasn’t able to get in
rhythm,” Scherzer said. “I never felt I had good command of any of my pitches. I
could never get in sync.”Atlanta led 4-2 in the third on Tyler Flowers’ two-run
single. After Soto’s homer and Wilmer Difo’s RBI double forced a tie in the
fourth, Acuna answered in the bottom half of the inning, tripling and scoring on
Freeman’s sacrifice fly. Markakis’ RBI single put Atlanta up 6-4.Charlie
Culberson’s infield RBI single put the Braves up 7-4 in the sixth. Bryce Harper
had an RBI groundout in the sixth for Washington. Markakis drove in two of the
Braves’ three runs in the eighth.HE SAID, HE SAIDWashington slugger Bryce Harper
and home plate umpire Laz Diaz were arguing with each other much of the night.
It started when Harper disagreed with a call in the fifth and continued when
Harper was in center field as they yelled at each other during the next inning.
It stopped short of reaching a boiling point in the seventh when Diaz called a
strike on a pitch that was clearly off the plate. Harper argued with Diaz while
looking straight ahead, not making eye contact with the umpire. Nationals
manager Dave Martinez came from the dugout to back Harper, but Diaz did not
eject either.“I’m not going to make any comment on balls and strikes there, but
umpires are supposed to be non-confrontational,” Martinez said. “They’re
supposed to uphold the peace on the baseball field. For me MLB needs to take a
look at that. . (Diaz) is saying things to Harp, and I thought that was uncalled
for.”TRAINER’S ROOMAtlanta 3B Johan Camargo missed his second straight game with
left groin tightness. … The Braves returned RHP Arodys Vizcaino from a rehab
assignment and reinstated him from the 60-day disabled list. Manager Brian
Snitker said Vizcaino
Matt Duffy Jersey , the team’s closer during parts of each of the last three years, will not be used in high leverage situations immediately. Vizcaino missed
63 games with right shoulder inflammation.TIME GONE BYThe 3 hour, 54-minute game
was the longest nine-inning game Atlanta has played since April 10, 2016 against
St. Louis. The last time the Braves played a longer game without needing a
bottom of the ninth was June 3, 2000 against the Yankees.UP NEXTNationals: RHP
Jeremy Hellickson (5-3, 3.57 ERA) will make his 19th start and first since Aug.
15 at St. Louis. He missed 21 games with a right wrist sprain and was sidelined
22 games earlier this year with a right hamstring strain. Hellickson is 2-0 with
a 3.18 ERA in six career starts against Atlanta.Braves: RHP Julio Teheran (9-7,
3.95 ERA) will make his 29th start. Atlanta has won three of his last five
outings. Teheran has been hit hard by the Nationals this year, going 0-1 with a
7.56 ERA in two starts. He is 6-5 with a 4.12 ERA in 20 career starts against
Washington. No need to call them cheat sheets.Major League Baseball has told
teams that it’s perfectly OK for pitchers to carry the kind of scouting cards
that umpire Joe West confiscated from Philadelphia reliever Austin Davis on the
mound this weekend.Phillies manager Gabe Kapler said he’d been informed the
cards were legal. They are, provided they don’t delay games, MLB advised clubs
in clarifying the policy.“I think it’s great that our pitchers are able to have
their game plans on them,” Kapler said Sunday’s 8-1 loss to the Chicago Cubs. “I
think it takes a lot of mental focus, takes a lot of bandwidth to get out the
best hitters in baseball. And when you can just take a little of that off your
mind and put it on a card, I think that’s helpful for pitchers and good for
baseball.”It has become common in the age of advanced baseball analytics to see
outfielders and infielders pulling info cards from their pockets to check on
proper positioning. But the sight of a pitcher doing it on the mound caught a
lot of attention at Citizens Bank Park.The unusual situation occurred Saturday
night in the eighth inning of the Chicago Cubs’ 7-1 win at Philadelphia.The NL
Central-leading Cubs were ahead 5-1 as Addison Russell approached the plate.
Davis took the reference card from his back pocket, checked the scouting report
on Russell, and then put it away.West, in his 41st season as an umpire, came in
from third base and took the card. He said it was illegal under Rule 6.02(c)(7),
which states that the pitcher shall not have on his person
http://www.raysfanproshop.com/authentic-steven-souza-jersey , or in his possession, any foreign substance.Kapler and Davis said the
left-hander was looking at the card merely for information on the Cubs hitters.
The 25-year-old rookie said he’s used them this season.“I think usually it’s a
quick glance and go. I was waiting for whoever it was to get in the box. So I
think it took an extra second or something and caught his eye. But I don’t
know,” Davis said after the game.“Our analytics department works really, really
hard to come up with this stuff for us and I want to use it because they work
all day to come up with stuff to help get guys out. And if I have an answer to
get a guy out, I want to know what that is,” he said.Davis said he made the card
himself.“This is something I create. We have our meeting where we go over the
hitters. I take that information and put it on a card so I don’t have to try and
memorize it and use my mental energy to get ready for the game,” he said. “Then
I just take a glance and go.”West kept this card.“I saw him take it out and I
went, ‘What the heck is that?'” West said.West called the league office after
the game for a ruling.“I didn’t want to throw him out,” West said postgame. “I
know it’s foreign but he’s not trying to cheat. Maybe he’s trying to get an
advantage because he’s reading the scouting report, but it wasn’t pine tar, it
wasn’t an emery board, it wasn’t whatever.“In the long run, maybe they’ll let
him (have the card). Right now, my hands are tied until they say yes or no.
Right now, until the office says it’s OK to carry this, he can’t do it,” he
said.
