Matt Olson will look to continue his success at Nationals Park when the Atlanta Braves visit the Washington Nationals for the second game of their four-game series Tuesday night.
The Atlanta first baseman smacked a two-run homer to center and added a sacrifice fly in the Braves 9-4 win on Monday night, their sixth in a row. Washington’s James Wood also robbed Olson of a homer at the fence in right field.
“We hit a lot of balls hard tonight,” Braves manager Walt Weiss said Monday. “That wind was blowing in. The fact that that ball Olson hit got out to center was a miracle the way the wind was blowing in. He might have had three homers tonight without any wind.”
Olson’s numbers might be ready for a boost anyway given his history at Nationals Park. Over the course of the 32-year-old’s career, Olson has played 30 games at the stadium. He has 13 homers, 35 RBIs and a batting average of .367.
The 13 home runs are more than he has hit in every stadium except the two parks he has called home — he previously played for the Athletics — and Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, where he has parked 15 balls over the outfield wall.
Atlanta’s Ronald Acuna, Jr. left the game in the sixth inning after being hit by a Jake Irvin pitch for the second time in the game, this one on the left hand. Acuna is day-to-day and Weiss said X-rays were negative.
“We feel pretty good about it,” Weiss said. “That’s where we’re at. We don’t have any plans for an MRI.”
Irvin said neither pitch was intentional.
“We’re trying to go in,” he said. “It’s unfortunate.
Atlanta right-hander Reynaldo Lopez (1-0, 2.18) will oppose left-hander Foster Griffin (2-0, 3.05) on Tuesday.
Griffin turned in three strong starts to open the season but struggled the last time out against Pittsburgh on Thursday. He held the Pirates scoreless for the first four innings but ultimately gave up four runs on eight hits over 5 1/3 innings, striking out seven and walking one. The Nationals pulled off an 8-7 win in 10 innings, but Griffin didn’t figure into the decision.
He has never faced the Braves.
Lopez is 0-1 with a 4.76 ERA in four career starts against the Nationals.
He gave up four runs (three earned) on five hits in five innings of a no-decision against the Miami Marlins in his April 14 start, won 6-5 by the Braves. It was the first time in four starts that he had given up more than one earned run.
The Nationals took the lead twice on Monday but could not hold it. Daylen Lile homered, but Washington was held to three hits and fell to 2-8 at home on a night that they committed two errors in addition to hitting Acuna.
“We know we have to play really good baseball against this team; they’re really good,” Nationals manager Blake Butera said after the game on Monday. “We made too many mistakes tonight to beat this club. We’ll address it, we’ll fix it and be ready to go tomorrow.”
Lile has hits in 18 of 22 games played this year.
Irvin was perfect through three innings but was later lifted after five innings and 68 pitches. He gave up four runs (three earned).
Atlanta’s Drake Baldwin had two hits, drove in two runs and scored twice. He has 10 multi-hit games this season.
–Field Level Media
