 ATLANTA (AP) - Elijah Dukes hit a three-run double in the 14th inning and the Washington Nationals beat the Atlanta Braves 7-4 on Sunday.
Dukes, who homered twice and went 4-for-5 in Saturday's 10-inning victory, was hitless in six at-bats before he faced Jeff Bennett in the 14th.
Bennett (2-6) gave up a leadoff walk to Anderson Hernandez, an infield single to Willie Harris and a one-out intentional walk to Lastings Milledge before Dukes doubled down the third-base line.
Steven Shell (2-1) pitched the 12th and 13th innings, striking out two and giving up two hits.
Joel Hanrahan got two quick outs before pinch-hitter James Parr, a rookie pitcher, walked and moved to third on Yunel Escobar's double. Hanrahan retired Jeff Francoeur on a grounder to earn his eighth save in 11 chances.
The Braves have lost two straight and seven of 10.
Washington won the season series against Atlanta 12-6.
Rookie Alberto Gonzalez hit his first career homer and had three RBIs for the Nationals.
Milledge's 14th homer made it 1-0 in the second, but the Nationals' center fielder gave the lead back in the bottom half of the inning, losing Chipper Jones' fly ball in the sun and allowing two runs to score for a 3-1 Braves lead.
After Gregor Blanco's RBI single tied the game at 1, Jones was credited with a double and two RBIs because Milledge's glove didn't touch the ball. Both runs were charged to Nationals starter Collin Balister, who left for a pinch-hitter in the seventh after giving up four runs and 11 hits.
Atlanta starter Jo-Jo Reyes left after six innings with a 4-1 lead and looked as if he was going to snap his streak of six straight losses, but relievers Julian Tavarez and Blaine Boyer couldn't hold the lead.
Tavarez pitched the seventh, giving up Gonzalez's homer to make it 4-2. Boyer began the eighth, allowing Milledge's leadoff single and walking Luke Montz before Gonzalez doubled to tie the game.
Reyes, whose losing streak is Atlanta's longest since Marty Clary dropped eight straight in 1990, gave up a run and four hits The left-hander stranded four runners in scoring position, two of them with the bases loaded when Willie Harris popped up to end the fifth.
Notes:@ Jones went 3-for-6 to raise his average two points to .358, one point behind St. Louis' Albert Pujols, who leads the majors. ... Washington 3B Ryan Zimmerman went 0-for-7 after hitting safely in 12 straight games and batting .408 with four homers and 10 RBIs in his previous 49 at-bats. ... Braves RF Jeff Francoeur, who grounded into double plays in the third and the 10th, dropped his average with the bases loaded to .138 in 28 at-bats this year. ... Since June 17, Nationals are 10-27 on the road. |