By Joseph White
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON – The Atlanta Braves’ drive for the NL wild card spun its wheels again Sunday, with wild pitchers and missed opportunities at the plate contributing to a 4-2 loss to the last-place Washington Nationals.
Every Nationals player who scored got on base with a walk, the last two runs coming on Ian Desmond’s tiebreaking single in the seventh that followed three straight free passes from the Braves bullpen.
The Nationals took two of three from the Braves, who began the day tied with San Francisco for the wild-card lead.
Atlanta has lost five of six. The Braves, who lost the season series 10-8 to the Nationals, now head home to finish up with a six-game stand against Florida and Philadelphia.
The Braves put two runners on base with fewer than two outs three times in the first six innings and failed to score each time. Rick Ankiel was the only Atlanta batter to produce runs, leading off the fifth with a home run and a doubling home Melky Cabrera with no out to make it 2-all in the seventh.
Brandon Beachy, making his second career start, struck out nine over five innings to keep the Braves in the game. But the right-hander, who is playing a major role in a critical part of the season, also walked three batters – and two of them turned out to be the only two runs he allowed.
Kyle Farnsworth (0-2) was even more off course, walking two of the four batters he faced. He entered in the seventh and got a pair of quick outs before walking Willie Harris and Danny Espinosa. Farnsworth was relieved by Jonny Venters, who promptly threw four straight balls to Nyjer Morgan to load the bases. Desmond then singled to center to put the Nationals ahead for good.