WASHINGTON – Kyle Wright earned his 11th victory of the season to tie for the MLB lead, and the Atlanta Braves beat the Washington Nationals 5-4 Thursday in the opener of a four-game series between National League East Division teams.
Michael Harris II, Matt Olson and Dansby Swanson homered for Atlanta, which has won five of its past seven games. The Braves are 54-37 overall and 8-2 against the Nationals this season.
Juan Soto extended his hitting streak to 16 games for Washington, which has dropped seven in a row and 13 of its past 14 games. The Nationals have the worst record in the majors at 30-61 and fell to 7-34 against the NL East, where they sit at the bottom of the standings.
Wright (11-4) gave up a solo homer to Josh Bell in the first inning and then loaded the bases to start the second before limiting the damage to Maikel Franco’s RBI grounder. He set down 17 of the last 21 batters he faced in his seven-inning outing, allowing two runs while striking out four.
The right-hander is tied with the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Tony Gonsolin and the Houston Astros’ Justin Verlander for the most victories in Major League Baseball as the All-Star break approaches. He is also the first Brave to win 11 games before the break since Jair Jurrjens had 12 victories at that point in 2011.
“It’s great that I had a good first half, but obviously this is just one half,” said Wright, who lowered his ERA to 2.95. “The second half is going to be even bigger.”
Wright’s only jam after the second inning came when he allowed back-to-back singles to open the fifth. Soto then ripped a shot to center field that Harris, a rookie who was called up in late May, collected before firing a dart back to the plate on one bounce just up the third-base line to nab Luis García at the plate.
“I knew Soto hit it pretty hard so I had a chance to still get him at home,” Harris said. “I got it and threw it as soon as I could, and I guess the rest is history.”
Atlanta closer Kenley Jansen, recently returned from a stint on the injured list, gave up Franco’s one-out solo homer in the ninth but struck out Bell with the tying run on second to escape for his 21st save in 25 chances in his first season with the Braves.
The reigning World Series champions immediately jumped on Washington starter Aníbal Sánchez, who was making his first appearance since 2020. After Sánchez yielded a walk to start the game, Swanson hit a two-run homer to left.
Sánchez (0-1), activated from the injured list earlier in the day after missing Washington’s first 90 games with a cervical nerve impingement, struggled with command but got through the next three innings unscathed before Harris’ two-run homer in the fifth put Atlanta up 4-2.
Sanchez gave up four runs in five innings and struck out five batters.
Olson homered off reliever Andres Machado in the sixth. The Braves lead the NL with 142 homers.
“It was a good ballgame,” Atlanta manager Brian Snitker said. “We hit our homers again.”
Right-hander Tyler Clippard pitched two scoreless innings in his first appearance for the Nationals since 2014. The two-time All-Star, who has pitched for nine teams since leaving Washington, was greeted warmly when he entered in the eighth and extended his Nationals record of games pitched to 415.
Washington optioned right-hander Mason Thompson to Rochester to make room for Sánchez on the roster. Thompson has not allowed a run in seven appearances this season, and he has yielded one hit in five innings since returning from the injured list July 1.
Nationals manager Dave Martinez said the team “wanted to send him out, get him built up, get him to throw back-to-back days, and he really hasn’t done that here. It gives us a little time to get him stretched out.”
The series continues Friday night, with Atlanta set to start right-hander Ian Anderson (7-5, 4.98 ERA), who allowed two runs in 5 1/3 innings Sunday as the Braves completed a sweep of Washington in a three-game series at Truist Park. The Nationals plan to counter with lefty Patrick Corbin (4-11, 5.70), who is 0-5 with a 9.12 ERA in five starts against Atlanta since the start of the 2021 season.