Ehire Adrianza drove in three runs and Victor Robles and Juan Soto homered as the host Washington Nationals ended a nine-game losing streak with a 7-3 victory over the Atlanta Braves on Sunday.
Adrianza’s three RBIs matched his total for his previous 24 games this season. He went 1-for-3 with a run for the Nationals, who won for just the second time in their past 17 games.
Maikel Franco went 2-for-3 with an RBI and a run for Washington as it averted a four-game sweep by the Braves, who ended a three-game winning streak.
The Nationals, who had dropped their past nine meetings against the defending World Series champions, took a 4-0 lead in the second off Spencer Strider (4-3).
After Adrianza’s two-out single to center scored Franco and Josh Bell, Robles hit a two-run home run to left.
Erasmo Ramirez, who was making a spot start after pitching two innings on Friday, tossed three scoreless frames Sunday before the Braves pulled to within 4-3 against reliever Jordan Weems in the fourth.
After Matt Olson’s RBI double scored Dansby Swanson, Olson advanced on Austin Riley’s single to center and scored on Eddie Rosario’s sacrifice fly to center.
Adam Duvall followed with an RBI double to left to score Riley from first and trim the lead to 4-3, ending Weems’ day. Steve Cishek got the final two outs.
Cishek (1-2) picked up the win by retiring all five hitters he faced before being relieved by Carl Edwards Jr. to start the sixth inning.
The Nationals pushed the lead to 5-3 in the fourth on Adrianza’s sacrifice groundout, before Franco’s single in the sixth scored Bell for a 6-3 advantage.
Soto capped the scoring in the eighth with a solo homer to right, his 20th of the season.
Strider allowed five runs on four hits with four strikeouts and two walks in four innings.
Swanson had two hits for the Braves, who lost for just the third time in their past 10 games, a stretch that included six wins over the Nationals. Atlanta swept a three-game series against the visiting Nationals earlier this month.
–Field Level Media
