After a late scratch for Reynaldo Lopez with a knee injury, Martin Perez became the late-notice starter for Atlanta in game 2 against the Nationals.
Perez worked a 1-2-3 first and Ronald and Matt Olson gave him a quick lead with back-to-back solo homers with one out in the bottom of the first.
Onto the second and Perez cruised through the second with two strikeouts. Yaz hustled for a bloop double and that work paid off with an RBI single from Drake Baldwin with two outs. A Jarvis error allowed a leadoff baserunner in the third, but the runner was erased with a double-play in another clean frame. Errors from Albies and Jarvis spelled trouble for Perez in the fourth, but Martin secured a crucial strikeout to keep the Nats off the board. Dominic Smith tacked on an insurance run with a solo homer in the bottom of the frame.
Perez carried a no-hitter through 6.2 innings, before giving up a single with two outs and ultimately getting out of the frame with the shutout. He ended the night with a massive 7.0 innings of scoreless ball and 6 strikeouts, all while making this start on maybe one hour’s notice. It can’t be overstated how tremendous this was for tonight and for the bullpen from Martin.
In the bottom of the inning, the Braves loaded the bases with no outs with two walks and some help from an error, scoring a run on a Dominic Smith walk. Ronald scored on a wild pitch, with the other runners advancing and Austin Riley brought them home with a two-RBI double, making it a comfortable 8-0 ballgame in the bottom of the seventh. Danny Young got the eighth and gave up three runs but got out of the inning limiting the damage to that. Victor Mederos got the ninth and got the job done with little drama, securing a comfortable 8-3 win and preserving the back of the bullpen.
Join us again as the Braves go for the sweep tomorrow at 1:35 PM ET.
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