The Atlanta Braves began their last road trip of the 2023 regular season with a 10-3 win over the Washington Nationals on Thursday evening in the first meeting of a four game National League East series at Nationals Park up in Washington DC.
The Braves tallied five runs in the top of the third inning with an RBI double from Ozzie Albies, an RBI single from Austin Riley, a ground-out by Marcell Ozuna, an RBI double from Michael Harris II, and an RBI single from Travis d’Arnaud. Alex Call had a solo home run for the Nationals during the bottom of that inning. The Braves added two more runs with RBI singles by Orlando Arcia and Albies in the fifth and seventh, respectively. Matt Olson began the top of the eighth with a homer; that increased his franchise record number of home runs in a single season to 53. Albies added a two-run shot during the top of the ninth. The Nationals added two more runs during the bottom of that inning, but the Braves held on for the win, again, by a final score of 10-3.
Max Fried was credited with the win for Atlanta after giving up one run and three hits, walking one, and striking out seven in six innings. Jake Irvin took the loss for Washington.
The NL East champion Braves improved their MLB-best record to 98-55 on the 2023 regular season, while the last place Nationals are 68-86. The teams will meet again tonight at 7:05 pm in DC. The game will not be broadcast on WLAQ 1410 AM/96.9 FM due to our coverage of high school football. Tune into WLAQ for the play-by-play story in the rest of that weekend series from the Atlanta Braves Radio Network.