WASHINGTON — Austin Riley homered in the seventh inning of a weather-delayed game, and the Atlanta Braves beat the Washington Nationals 4-2 early Saturday morning to move into a first-place tie in the NL East with Philadelphia.
The announced attendance of 24,812 had noticeably diminished by the time the final out was recorded at 1:19 a.m.
The start of the game was delayed 3 hours, 12 minutes due to severe weather.
Atlanta entered Friday in third place in the NL East, a game behind Philadelphia and a half-game back of the New York Mets. Both the Phillies and Mets lost on Friday.
Washington dropped its fifth straight game. It carried a 2-0 lead into the fifth before Atlanta rally with the long ball.
Travis d’Arnaud got the Braves on the board with his third homer, a solo shot just over the wall in left in the fifth. Ozzie Albies tied it at 2 with his 21st homer in the sixth, giving him four homers and seven RBIs in his last five games.
Riley’s 24th homer of the season put Atlanta ahead to stay in the seventh, and Dansby Swanson hit his 21st homer in the ninth.
The Nationals came out fast after the long delay, opening with three consecutive hits off Charlie Morton (11-4), including Juan Soto’s RBI single. Josh Bell added a sacrifice fly, making it 2-0 in the first.
Morton struck out seven in six innings. Will Smith earned his 24th save despite allowing the first two batters to reach in the ninth.
Nationals starter Josiah Gray (0-1) permitted three runs and five hits in six-plus innings. He struck out six and walked none.
Gray was acquired at the trade deadline when Max Scherzer and Trea Turner were shipped off to the Los Angeles Dodgers. He has allowed five runs in his three starts with Washington — all coming on solo homers.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Braves: Righty reliever Richard Rodriquez was shaken up in the seventh after being hit by a Victor Robles groundout. He had to be evaluated by Atlanta’s trainer before finishing the inning.
UP NEXT
Braves: LHP Max Fried (9-7, 3.91 ERA) allowed one run in six innings in his last start against Washington on Aug 8. The Braves won 5-4.
Nationals: LHP Patrick Corbin (6-11, 5.83 ERA) is struggling with career-high ERA and has lost six of his last seven decisions.
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