Jacob Young had three hits as one of six Washington players with multi-hit games to pace the visiting Nationals to an 8-4 win over the Atlanta Braves on Monday in the opener of a four-game series.
Young went 3-for-4 and drove in a run during the sixth inning. The Nationals banged out 15 hits, with CJ Abrams, Lane Thomas, Keibert Ruiz, Jesse Winker and Nick Senzel picking up two hits apiece.
Thomas, activated from the 10-day injured list on Monday after missing 29 games with a left MCL sprain, had two doubles.
Washington starter Mitchell Parker (4-2) pitched 6 1/3 innings and allowed three runs on five hits to go along with no walks and six strikeouts. Parker opened the game with six scoreless frames before allowing three runs, including a homer by Adam Duvall, in the seventh.
Washington’s Hunter Harvey and Kyle Finnegan each pitched a scoreless inning of relief, with Finnegan striking out three in the ninth to end the game.
Atlanta starter Charlie Morton (3-2) went 5 2/3 innings and allowed season highs in runs (eight) and hits (12), with two walks and seven strikeouts. Morton avoided further damage by picking off a pair of runners.
The Nationals jumped on the Braves for four runs in the first inning. Former Brave Eddie Rosario doubled in a run, Winker followed with an RBI single and Senzel drove in two runs with a double.
Abrams hit a solo homer, his ninth home run of the season, in the second inning. Abrams also went deep on Sunday.
Atlanta trailed 8-0 in the seventh before Sean Murphy hit a run-scoring groundout and Duvall followed with his fifth homer of the season, a two-run blast. Orlando Arcia added an RBI single off reliever Derek Law.
The Braves played without starting right fielder Ronald Acuna Jr., who tore his left ACL on Sunday and will miss the rest of the season. Acuna, the 2023 National League MVP, tore the ACL in his right knee in 2021.
Murphy returned from an oblique injury suffered on Opening Day and went 1-for-4. Third baseman Austin Riley also returned and went 0-for-4.
–Field Level Media
