WASHINGTON NATIONALS NOTES:
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ATLANTA BRAVES NOTES:
First Start
RH A,J. Smith-Shawver is set to make his first career start for Atlanta tonight, and his second appearance in the majors. He pitched 2.1 scoreless innings of relief in his debut last Sunday in Arizona. Smith-Shawver starts tonight at 20 years, 202 days old, and is the youngest Braves starter since Julio Teheran in 2011. Just one pitcher in baseball this season has started at a younger age, with Eury Pérez making five such starts for the Marlins. Smith-Shawver is rated by MLB.com as Atlanta’s No. 4 overall prospect, and went 2-1 with a 1.09 ERA over seven starts in the minors before joining Atlanta.
TONIGHT’S GAME: The Braves and Nationals tonight begin a three-game weekend series with what is the fourth of 13 games between the teams this season… The two will not meet again until the penultimate weekend of the season, September 21-24, for four games at Nationals Park.
- Atlanta and Washington opened the season as opponents, with the Braves taking two-of-three in D.C. from March 30 to April 2.
- The Braves went 14-5 against the Nationals last season, the second consecutive season in which Atlanta won 14 of the 19 matchups between the
clubs…The Braves are 30-11 against the Nationals since the start of 2021. - Atlanta has won the season set with Washington in each of the last five seasons dating to 2018, combing to go 57-32 versus the Nationals in that span.
- Atlanta scored 116 times in its 19 games against Washington last season, a year after outscoring the Nationals 101-73 (+28) in 2021…Last year marked the 11th time the Braves scored triple digits against a single team in a season since the turn of the century…The 2004 team has the most in that span, scoring 128 runs against the Expos.
- RH Josiah Gray has made five career starts against Atlanta, including one this season, and is 1-2 with a 3.33 ERA (10 ER/27.0 IP) versus the Braves… In his lone such turn this year, April 1 at Nationals Park, he took the loss after allowing seven hits and five runs over 5.0 innings…The 6-foot-1, 210-pound native of New Rochelle, NY, is 4-5 with a 3.09 ERA through 12 starts this season.
WIN: Ozzie Albies drove a 1-0 pitch in last night’s 10th inning out to right field for a three-run, walk-off home run, as the Braves beat the Mets, 13-10…Atlanta completed the three-game sweep with the victory.
- With the win the Braves moved to 14 games above .500, matching the most games over .500 they’ve been this season…The were also 14 over when they were 25-11 (.694) at the start of play on May 10.
- Albies’ shot was the third walk-off home run of his career, and each of the previous two came against Cincinnati: June 25, 2018 and August 11, 2021… His 14 home runs are tied with St. Louis’ Nolan Gorman (2B) and Toronto’s Bo Bichette (SS) for most among qualified middle-infielders.
- The Braves have won each of their last four home games, a season-long streak here at Truist Park… Atlanta’s last home winning streak longer than three games was a 10-game run, August 31 to September 20 of last season.
- The Braves plated three runs in the first inning, and their 55 first-inning runs are the most in MLB… Atlanta had not scored a run in the opening frame since May 29 at Oakland, a span of seven games… The club has scored at least one first inning run in 26 games this season, tied for the major league lead with Los Angeles (NL).
COMEBACKS: Atlanta trailed 5-3, 6-3, 6-5, 8-5, 9-5, 9-6, 10-6, 10-7 and 10-9 last night, but rallied to win… The Braves trailed by at least three runs in all three games versus New York, and came back to win all three.
- Per the Elias Sports Bureau, the Braves had never erased deficits of at least three runs in three straight games to win in baseball’s modern era (since 1900).
- The franchise did so three times in the 1800’s, most recently in 1894.
- New York held a win probability of at least 85% in all three games of the series, including a series-high mark of 95% in the bottom of the eighth inning last night.
- The Braves also rallied to beat Arizona on Sunday, and the club’s last four wins have all been come-from-behind efforts…Atlanta’s four game run is its longest streak of wins in consecutive games when trailing since winning six straight such games in June of 2019.
- Atlanta is 15-23 (.395) in games it which it trails at some point this season, the second-best record in the National League…Only Arizona (18-24, .429) has been better.
AUSTIN RILEY: Collected a career high-tying four hits last night, going 4-for-6 with three runs, a homer and two RBI…In his last 31 games dating to May 4, he is batting .320/.360/.512 with an .872 OPS.
- Last night’s homer was his seventh of the season in the first inning, matching teammate Matt Olson and New York’s (AL) Aaron Judge for the major league lead.
- Each of his last four games have been multi-hit efforts, matching the longest such streak of his career (June 30 – July 3, 2022)… He has 14 multi-hit efforts over his last 31 contests dating to May 4, one shy of the major league lead over that span.
BRIAN SNITKER WINS: Atlanta’s win last night was the 580th of Brian Snitker’s managerial career, the third-most wins by a manager in franchise history…The victory broke a tie with George Stallings.
- The franchise has had 48 managers since its inception into the National League in 1876, and Snitker has won more games than all but two of them.
- Snitker trails just Frank Selee (1,004 wins) and Bobby Cox (2,149 wins) on the franchise leaderboard…Both Selee and Cox are enshrined in the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
- Since taking over for Atlanta on May 17, 2016, Snitker’s 580 wins stand as fourth most for any manager in baseballl…The Dodgers’ Dave Roberts (673) and Guardians’ Terry Francona (603) rank first and second, respectively, while the Rays’s Kevin Cash (595) sits third.
Tonight’s Starting Pitcher – #62 AJ SMITH-SHAWVER RHP
2023 Record: 0-0, 0.00 ERA • MiLB Record: 2-1, 1.09 ERA
vs. RHB: .000 (0-2), 0 HR • vs. LHB: .000 (0-for-5), 0 HR
Home: 0-0, 0.00 ERA (0 ER/0.0) • Away: 0-0, 0.00 ERA (0/2.1)
Today’s Game
- Smith-Shawver is set to make his first career start and second appearance tonight against Washington.
- Tossed 2.1 scoreless innings with three strikeouts in his major league debut against Arizona on June 4.
- Will be the youngest pitcher to make his first start for Atlanta since Julio Teheran on May 7, 2011.
- Just one pitcher in baseball this season has started at a younger age, with Eury Pérez making five such starts for the Marlins.
- Prior to his debut, Smith-Shawver had 33.0 professional innings pitched.
- Atlanta selected his contract on May 30.
- Smith-Shawver is rated by MLB.com as Atlanta’s No. 4 overall prospect.
- Went 2-1 with a 1.09 ERA in seven starts across three levels of Atlanta’s farm system.
- Was 1-0 with a 0.00 ERA in three starts with High-A Rome.
- Went 1-0 with a 0.00 ERA in two start with Double-A Mississippi.
- Finished 0-1 with a 3.00 ERA in two starts for Triple-A Gwinnett.
