ATLANTA – Little-used Diory Hernandez sparked Atlanta with a pinch-hit homer, All-Star Martin Prado returned from the disabled list with three hits and Mike Minor claimed his first major league win, 10-2 over the Washington Nationals on Tuesday night.
Coming off their 20th last-at-bat victory, most in the big leagues, the first-place Braves didn’t need any dramatics beginning a series against the lowly Nationals.
Still, in keeping with the theme of a surprising season, some unlikely players contributed to Atlanta’s sixth win in seven games. Matt Diaz, making a rare appearance in the cleanup spot, had a two-run double that put the Braves ahead for good.
Atlanta remained 2 1/2 games ahead of Philadelphia in the National League East. The Phillies defeated San Francisco 9-3.
Minor (1-0), Atlanta’s top draft pick last year, pitched well in his second career start but was trailing when he left, having surrendered two runs to the Nationals in the sixth.
But Hernandez batted for him leading off the bottom half of the inning and made his first hit in the majors this season a big one. He homered into the left-field seats against Scott Olsen (3-5).
Hernandez’s drive sparked the Braves’ bats. Omar Infante tripled to the gap right-center and Jason Heyward walked, ending Olsen’s night.
Joel Peralta followed and didn’t fare much better. Prado, who had been on the DL since breaking his right pinky on a slide July 30, doubled into the right-field corner to bring home the tying run. Diaz, hitting cleanup even with a .232 average and just five homers, followed with another double into the left-field corner to bring home both runners.
The Braves blew it open with four more runs in the seventh, taking advantage of two Washington errors and a botched grounder that was charitably scored a hit. Prado had an RBI single and Melky Cabrera blooped a two-run double to short left field.