Pinch hitter Drake Baldwin laced a go-ahead double in the 10th inning to spark a five-run frame as the visiting Atlanta Braves posted a 5-0 victory over the Washington Nationals to complete a doubleheader sweep on Tuesday.
Baldwin’s hit off Mason Thompson (1-1) scored automatic runner Michael Harris II with the game’s first run. Ha-Seong Kim singled and Jurickson Profar walked to load the bases with one out before Matt Olson cleared the bases with a triple.
PJ Poulin then relieved Thompson and walked Ronald Acuna Jr. before Ozzie Albies extended the lead to 5-0 with a sacrifice fly.
Tyler Kinley (6-3) pitched the ninth and 10th innings for Atlanta, allowing two hits and no walks while striking out one. Chris Sale started and threw eight scoreless innings, surrendering just three hits, walking none and striking out nine for Atlanta (69-83), which won its fourth straight game.
After the Braves prevailed 6-3 in Game 1, the nightcap was delayed two hours by rain.
MacKenzie Gore started the second game for Washington (62-90), and he permitted two hits across 5 1/3 scoreless innings, striking out five and walking three. Thompson allowed five runs (four earned) while getting just one out for the Nationals, who have dropped six of eight.
After allowing Nasim Nunez’s leadoff single in the first, Sale retired nine straight batters before Dylan Crews singled to begin the fourth.
Gore exited after issuing a one-out walk to Acuna in the sixth. Jackson Rutledge entered for Washington, and he allowed one hit over 1 2/3 shutout innings.
Atlanta threatened in the seventh, as Harris doubled and advanced to third on Leon’s flyout. Pinch hitter Vidal Brujan then popped out before Rutledge struck out Kim, who was pinch-hitting, to escape the jam.
Konnor Pilkington pitched the eighth for Washington, allowing Profar’s leadoff walk before retiring Olson and getting Acuna to ground into an inning-ending double play.
Paul DeJong singled and reached second on Sale’s wild pitch with two outs in the bottom of the eighth, but Sale finished his outing with a strikeout of Jacob Young to preserve the scoreless tie.
