GAME THREAD: NL: WASHINGTON (32-44) at ATLANTA (39-38)

NL: WASHINGTON at ATLANTA

<div class="pre">WASHINGTON (2) VS ATLANTA (6) - FINAL

WASHINGTON ab r h rbi bb so lob avg
R Langerhans cf 4 0 1 1 0 2 1 .178
F Lopez ss 4 0 1 0 0 1 0 .237
R Zimmerman 3b 4 0 1 0 0 0 1 .247
D Young 1b 3 1 2 0 1 0 2 .342
A Kearns rf 4 0 0 0 0 2 2 .254
R Church lf 4 0 1 1 0 2 0 .260
R Belliard 2b 4 0 1 0 0 0 0 .295
B Schneider c 4 1 1 0 0 1 2 .251
M Bacsik p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .125
a-T Batista ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .229
C Schroder p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
R King p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
b-D Jimenez ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 .063

Totals 33 2 8 2 1 8 10

a-fouled out to catcher for M Bacsik in the 7th; b-flied out to left for R
King in the 9th.

BATTING: 2B - R Langerhans (6, B Carlyle); D Young (21, P Moylan); R Church
(23, P Moylan). S - M Bacsik 2. RBI - R Langerhans (14), R Church (35). Runners
left in scoring position, 2 out - D Jimenez 2, R Langerhans 1, R Zimmerman 1.
Team LOB - 7.

FIELDING: E - F Lopez (7, throw). DP: 1 (B Schneider-F Lopez).


ATLANTA ab r h rbi bb so lob avg
Y Escobar 2b 5 1 2 0 0 0 2 .273
E Renteria ss 4 1 1 0 0 1 1 .322
C Jones 3b 3 0 0 0 1 0 3 .319
A Jones cf 4 1 1 3 0 1 3 .198
J Francoeur rf 4 0 1 0 0 0 0 .273
B McCann c 4 1 3 0 0 1 1 .264
M Diaz lf 3 0 0 0 0 0 2 .333
W Harris lf 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .383
J Saltalamacchia 1b 4 2 2 2 0 0 2 .329
B Carlyle p 3 0 0 0 0 0 1 .000
T Yates p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
a-C Woodward ph 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 .207
P Moylan p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
B Wickman p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000

Totals 35 6 11 6 1 3 15

a-reached on infield single to shortstop for T Yates in the 8th.

BATTING: 2B - B McCann (18, C Schroder). HR - J Saltalamacchia 2 (4, 3rd inning
off M Bacsik 0 on, 0 Out, 5th inning off M Bacsik 0 on, 0 Out), A Jones (12,
5th inning off M Bacsik 2 on, 2 Out). RBI - J Saltalamacchia 2 (10), A Jones 3
(45), C Woodward (7). 2-out RBI - A Jones 3, C Woodward. Runners left in
scoring position, 2 out - A Jones 2, Y Escobar 1. Team LOB - 7.

BASERUNNING: SB - Y Escobar (2, 2nd base off C Schroder/B Schneider). CS - J
Francoeur (2, 2nd base by M Bacsik/B Schneider).

FIELDING: E - J Saltalamacchia (3, throw); M Diaz (2, fly ball). Outfield
assists - M Diaz (F Lopez at Home). DP: 1 (M Diaz-B McCann-E Renteria).


----------------------------------------------------
WASHINGTON - 001 000 001 -- 2
ATLANTA - 001 040 01x -- 6
----------------------------------------------------

WASHINGTON ip h r er bb so hr era
M Bacsik (L, 1-5) 6 8 5 5 1 1 3 5.08
C Schroder 1 1/3 2 1 1 0 2 0 2.70
R King 2/3 1 0 0 0 0 0 6.16

ATLANTA ip h r er bb so hr era
B Carlyle (W, 2-2) 7 5 1 1 1 6 0 5.14
T Yates 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 3.24
P Moylan 1/3 3 1 1 0 1 0 2.47
B Wickman (S, 14) 2/3 0 0 0 0 1 0 3.16

HBP - M Diaz (by C Schroder). Pitches-strikes: M Bacsik 96-62; C Schroder
36-24; R King 10-5; B Carlyle 95-62; T Yates 8-7; P Moylan 17-11; B Wickman
10-5. Ground balls-fly balls: M Bacsik 6-10; C Schroder 1-1; R King 1-1; B
Carlyle 4-9; T Yates 0-3; P Moylan 0-0; B Wickman 0-1. Batters faced: M Bacsik
27; C Schroder 7; R King 3; B Carlyle 27; T Yates 3; P Moylan 4; B Wickman 2.


UMPIRES: HP--Fieldin Culbreth. 1B--Tim Mcclelland. 2B--Paul Schrieber.
3B--Marty Foster.

T--2:39. Att--22,508.
Weather: 89 degrees, partly cloudy. Wind: 8 mph, left
to right.</div>

 

NL: WASHINGTON at ATLANTA

<div class="pre">** CONFIRMED **
NL
WASHINGTON 2
ATLANTA 6 FINAL</div>

 

NL: WASHINGTON at ATLANTA

<div class="pre">~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
WASHINGTON (2) AT ATLANTA (6) - HOW THEY SCORED
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

WASHINGTON 3RD: B Schneider singled to center. M Bacsik sacrificed to
third, B Schneider to second. R Langerhans hit a ground rule double to deep
right, B Schneider scored. F Lopez grounded out to shortstop, R Langerhans to
third. R Zimmerman flied out to right. (1 Run, 2 Hits, 0 Errors) WASHINGTON 1,
ATLANTA 0.

ATLANTA 3RD: J Saltalamacchia homered to center. B Carlyle grounded out to
second. Y Escobar flied out to right. E Renteria safe at second on throwing
error by shortstop F Lopez. C Jones walked. A Jones flied out to left.
(1 Run, 1 Hit, 1 Error) WASHINGTON 1, ATLANTA 1.

ATLANTA 5TH: J Saltalamacchia homered to left. B Carlyle grounded out to
pitcher. Y Escobar singled to left center. E Renteria singled to left,
Y Escobar to second. C Jones lined out to left. A Jones homered to left,
Y Escobar and E Renteria scored. J Francoeur grounded out to second. (4 Runs,
4 Hits, 0 Errors) WASHINGTON 1, ATLANTA 5.

ATLANTA 8TH: J Francoeur grounded out to first. B McCann doubled to right.
M Diaz hit by pitch. R King relieved C Schroder. J Saltalamacchia grounded
into fielder's choice to second, M Diaz out at second, B McCann to third.
C Woodward hit for T Yates. C Woodward reached on infield single to shortstop,
B McCann scored, J Saltalamacchia to second. Y Escobar lined out to shortstop.
(1 Run, 2 Hits, 0 Errors) WASHINGTON 1, ATLANTA 6.

WASHINGTON 9TH: P Moylan relieved T Yates. W Harris in left field. D Young
doubled to left. A Kearns struck out looking. R Church doubled to right,
D Young scored. R Belliard singled to center, R Church to third. B Wickman
relieved P Moylan. B Schneider struck out swinging. D Jimenez hit for R King.
R Belliard to second on fielder's indifference. D Jimenez flied out to left.
(1 Run, 3 Hits, 0 Errors) WASHINGTON 2, ATLANTA 6.</div>

 

Saltalamacchia's two homers lift Braves over Nationals

<h3>ATLANTA 6, WASHINGTON 2</h3>ATLANTA (Ticker) -- Jarrod Saltalamacchia made sure that itwouldn't take another seven years for Buddy Carlyle to get hisnext major league win.

Saltalamacchia homered twice and Carlyle hurled seven solidframes to power the Atlanta Braves to a 6-2 victory over theWashington Nationals on Tuesday.

Playing for the first time in front of the home crowd at firstbase, Saltalamacchia delivered. The 22-year-old tied the gameat 1-1 in the third inning by smashing a 2-2 pitch fromNationals starter Mike Bacsik (1-5) over the center field wall.

Saltalamacchia broke the tie in the fifth when he launchedanother solo blast into the left-center field bleachers for hisfirst multi-homer performance of his 29-game major leaguecareer.

Saltalamacchia, who was drafted out of high school in 2003, madea swift journey through the minor leagues. After catcherBrayan Pena was injured, the rookie got the call to the bigleagues on May 2. It was supposed to be brief.

But the rookie impressed the Braves so much that Pena was sentdown to the minors. Blocked by All-Star Brian McCann behind theplate, he was given a first baseman's glove in an attempt toget him more at-bats.

Saltalamacchia's heroics were enough to make a winner out ofCarlyle (2-2).

The 27-year-old journeyman, who has played with 17 teams in themajors, minors and Japan, went seven years and 269 days betweenhis first major league victory in 1999 and his second on June 5.

But it took just three weeks for Carlyle to win his third. TheNebraska native allowed one run and five hits with one walk andsix strikeouts in a 95-pitch effort.

Bob Wickman entered with one out and two runners on base in theninth to record his 14th save of the season.

Prior to the visit by Washington, Atlanta was in the midst of ahorrid stretch in which it dropped five straight to the Red Soxand Tigers, were shut out four times and were outscored by a27-1 margin.

Slumping Andruw Jones, who had just one hit in his last 31at-bats to plummet his average to a woeful .196, finally foundhis power stroke, belting a three-run homer in the fifth inningto give the Braves a 5-1 advantage.

Jones did not have an extra-base hit since June 9 against theChicago Cubs, a span of 56 at-bats.

Bacsik allowed five runs and eight hits with a walk over sixinnings en route to dropping his fifth straight decision.

Former Brave Ryan Langerhans drove in a run in the third for theNationals, who have homered just once in 11 games against theBraves this season.

 

NL: WASHINGTON at ATLANTA

<div class="pre">~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
WASHINGTON (2) AT ATLANTA (6) - EVENT LOG
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Washington Starting Lineups -- R Langerhans CF, F Lopez SS, R Zimmerman 3B,
D Young 1B, A Kearns RF, R Church LF, R Belliard 2B, B Schneider C,
M Bacsik LHP.

Atlanta Starting Lineups -- Y Escobar 2B, E Renteria SS, C Jones 3B,
A Jones CF, J Francoeur RF, B McCann C, M Diaz LF, J Saltalamacchia 1B,
B Carlyle RHP.

Umpires -- Fieldin Culbreth (HP), Tim Mcclelland (1B), Paul Schrieber (2B),
Marty Foster (3B).

Gametime Weather: 89 degrees, Partly Cloudy, wind left to right at 8 mph.


WASHINGTON 1ST: R Langerhans struck out looking. F Lopez singled to left.
R Zimmerman singled to center, F Lopez to second. D Young singled to left,
F Lopez out at home, R Zimmerman out at third, left to catcher to shortstop.
(0 Runs, 3 Hits, 0 Errors) WASHINGTON 0, ATLANTA 0.

ATLANTA 1ST: Y Escobar grounded out to shortstop. E Renteria flied out to
center. C Jones grounded out to third. (0 Runs, 0 Hits, 0 Errors) WASHINGTON 0,
ATLANTA 0.

WASHINGTON 2ND: A Kearns grounded out to second. R Church struck out
looking. R Belliard flied out to left. (0 Runs, 0 Hits, 0 Errors) WASHINGTON 0,
ATLANTA 0.

ATLANTA 2ND: A Jones fouled out to catcher. J Francoeur lined out to
third. B McCann singled to center. M Diaz flied out to right. (0 Runs, 1 Hit,
0 Errors) WASHINGTON 0, ATLANTA 0.

WASHINGTON 3RD: B Schneider singled to center. M Bacsik sacrificed to
third, B Schneider to second. R Langerhans hit a ground rule double to deep
right, B Schneider scored. F Lopez grounded out to shortstop, R Langerhans to
third. R Zimmerman flied out to right. (1 Run, 2 Hits, 0 Errors) WASHINGTON 1,
ATLANTA 0.

ATLANTA 3RD: J Saltalamacchia homered to center. B Carlyle grounded out to
second. Y Escobar flied out to right. E Renteria safe at second on throwing
error by shortstop F Lopez. C Jones walked. A Jones flied out to left.
(1 Run, 1 Hit, 1 Error) WASHINGTON 1, ATLANTA 1.

WASHINGTON 4TH: D Young flied out to left. A Kearns struck out looking.
R Church struck out swinging. (0 Runs, 0 Hits, 0 Errors) WASHINGTON 1,
ATLANTA 1.

ATLANTA 4TH: J Francoeur singled to left center. B McCann struck out
swinging. J Francoeur caught stealing second, catcher to shortstop. M Diaz
grounded out to third. (0 Runs, 1 Hit, 0 Errors) WASHINGTON 1, ATLANTA 1.

WASHINGTON 5TH: R Belliard popped out to second. B Schneider safe at first
on throwing error by first baseman J Saltalamacchia. M Bacsik sacrificed to
catcher, B Schneider to second. R Langerhans struck out looking. (0 Runs,
0 Hits, 1 Error) WASHINGTON 1, ATLANTA 1.

ATLANTA 5TH: J Saltalamacchia homered to left. B Carlyle grounded out to
pitcher. Y Escobar singled to left center. E Renteria singled to left,
Y Escobar to second. C Jones lined out to left. A Jones homered to left,
Y Escobar and E Renteria scored. J Francoeur grounded out to second. (4 Runs,
4 Hits, 0 Errors) WASHINGTON 1, ATLANTA 5.

WASHINGTON 6TH: F Lopez struck out looking. R Zimmerman popped out to
second. D Young walked. A Kearns flied out to right. (0 Runs, 0 Hits,
0 Errors) WASHINGTON 1, ATLANTA 5.

ATLANTA 6TH: B McCann singled to right. M Diaz flied out to center.
J Saltalamacchia flied out to left. B Carlyle flied out to left. (0 Runs,
1 Hit, 0 Errors) WASHINGTON 1, ATLANTA 5.

WASHINGTON 7TH: R Church flied out to right. R Belliard flied out to
right. B Schneider safe at first on error by left fielder M Diaz. T Batista
hit for M Bacsik. T Batista fouled out to catcher, B Schneider to second.
(0 Runs, 0 Hits, 1 Error) WASHINGTON 1, ATLANTA 5.

ATLANTA 7TH: C Schroder relieved M Bacsik. Y Escobar singled to right.
E Renteria struck out swinging. C Jones popped out to third. Y Escobar stole
second. A Jones struck out swinging. (0 Runs, 1 Hit, 0 Errors) WASHINGTON 1,
ATLANTA 5.

WASHINGTON 8TH: T Yates relieved B Carlyle. R Langerhans flied out to
right. F Lopez popped out to shortstop. R Zimmerman flied out to right.
(0 Runs, 0 Hits, 0 Errors) WASHINGTON 1, ATLANTA 5.

ATLANTA 8TH: J Francoeur grounded out to first. B McCann doubled to right.
M Diaz hit by pitch. R King relieved C Schroder. J Saltalamacchia grounded
into fielder's choice to second, M Diaz out at second, B McCann to third.
C Woodward hit for T Yates. C Woodward reached on infield single to shortstop,
B McCann scored, J Saltalamacchia to second. Y Escobar lined out to shortstop.
(1 Run, 2 Hits, 0 Errors) WASHINGTON 1, ATLANTA 6.

WASHINGTON 9TH: P Moylan relieved T Yates. W Harris in left field. D Young
doubled to left. A Kearns struck out looking. R Church doubled to right,
D Young scored. R Belliard singled to center, R Church to third. B Wickman
relieved P Moylan. B Schneider struck out swinging. D Jimenez hit for R King.
R Belliard to second on fielder's indifference. D Jimenez flied out to left.
(1 Run, 3 Hits, 0 Errors) WASHINGTON 2, ATLANTA 6.</div>

 

Saltalamacchia's two homers lift Braves over Nationals

<h3>ATLANTA 6, WASHINGTON 2</h3>ATLANTA (Ticker) -- Jarrod Saltalamacchia made sure that itwould not take another seven years for Buddy Carlyle to get hisnext major league win.

Saltalamacchia homered twice and Carlyle hurled seven solidframes to power the Atlanta Braves to a 6-2 victory over theWashington Nationals on Tuesday.

Playing for the first time in front of the home crowd at firstbase instead of his usual position at catcher, Saltalamacchiadelivered.

The 22-year-old tied the game at 1-1 in the third inning bysmashing a 2-2 pitch from Nationals starter Mike Bacsik (1-5)over the center field wall.

Saltalamacchia broke the tie in the fifth when he launchedanother solo blast into the left-center field bleachers for hisfirst multi-homer performance of his 29-game major leaguecareer.

"I was happy after the first one," said Saltalamacchia, whocaught Bacsik while the two were playing for the United StatesOlympic team in Cuba. "It was one of those things. It was mynight."

Saltalamacchia, who was drafted out of high school in 2003, madea swift journey through the minor leagues. After catcherBrayan Pena was injured the rookie got the call to the bigleagues on May 2. His stay was supposed to be brief.

But Atlanta's top prospect impressed the Braves so much thatPena was sent down to the minors. With All-Star Brian McCannentrenched behind the plate, Saltalamacchia was given a firstbaseman's glove in an attempt to get him more at-bats.

Saltalamacchia's heroics were enough to make a winner out ofCarlyle (2-2).

The 27-year-old journeyman righthander, who has played with 17teams in the majors, minors and Japan, went seven years and 269days between his first major league victory in 1999 and hissecond on June 5.

But it took just three weeks for Carlyle to win his third. TheNebraska native allowed one run and five hits with one walk andsix strikeouts in a 95-pitch effort.

"I honestly don't feel like I did anything different over thelast seven years," Carlyle said. "A lot of teams wouldn't havegiven me another chance. Braves manager Bobby (Cox) gave meanother chance and I'm glad I helped the team get a win today."

Things didn't look good early on for Carlyle, who gave up a pairof singles with one out in the first before Washington ranitself out of a potential big inning.

Nationals slugger Dmitri Young singled to shallow left - extendhis hitting streak to 10 games - but Felipe Lopez was nailed atthe plate on a strong throw by left fielder Matt Diaz. RyanZimmerman also was nabbed attempting to advance to third base tocomplete the unusual double play and end the rally.

"It's easy to second-guess since he got thrown out," Nationalsmanager Manny Acta said. "The guy made a great throw. We tooka chance at the plate. We can't afford to do that. We can't begiving outs away."

Carlyle found his groove after the wild first, scattering justone run and two hits thereafter.

"Carlyle settled down after the first two innings," Cox said."He gave us a great, great performance."

Bob Wickman entered with one out and two runners on base in theninth to record his 14th save of the season.

Prior to the visit by Washington, Atlanta was in the midst of ahorrid stretch in which it dropped five straight to the Red Soxand Tigers, were shut out four times and were outscored by a27-1 margin.

Slumping Andruw Jones, who had just one hit in his last 31at-bats to plummet his average to a woeful .196, finally foundhis power stroke, belting a three-run homer in the fifth inningto give the Braves a 5-1 advantage.

"Andruw hit a three-run homer," Cox said. "That was huge. It'severything we wanted for Andruw to pick it up, that's forsure."

Jones did not have an extra-base hit since June 9 against theChicago Cubs, a span of 56 at-bats.

"He's going to have a monster second half," McCann said. "He'sone of the best players in the game. He's started to betterswings on the ball the last three or four games. It's only amatter of time for him to go off and carry us and (hisstruggles) will be forgotten."

Bacsik allowed five runs and eight hits with a walk over sixinnings en route to dropping his fifth straight decision.

Former Brave Ryan Langerhans drove in a run in the third for theNationals, who have homered just once in 11 games against theBraves this season.