The Atlanta Braves play the Washington Nationals at Nationals Park in Washington, D.C, as these National League East foes wrap up a four-game series on Thursday.
The Braves trail the Philadelphia Phillies by 1.5 games as of Wednesday. Atlanta has won four out of its last six games and split Tuesday’s doubleheader. On the other hand, the Washington Nationals had a huge offensive outing in the first game of the doubleheader with eight runs scored in the triumph. However, they struggled in the second game and are now six games behind conference leader Philadelphia.
It’s been a tough and somewhat disappointing season for the Nationals but all is not yet lost as there are still enough games to make ground on the Phillies. But they must start winning and they must start now.
For most part of the first half of the season, the Braves have been right there with the Phillies for the lead in the National League East standings. Atlanta certainly has plenty of talent on its roster, both in pitching and batting, to catch up with the Phillies.
Atlanta’s offense is led by Ozzie Albies whose 20 homers this season is the most by any Brave, Freddie Freeman whose 69 RBIs lead Atlanta and Nick Markakis who leads the team in batting average at .323. Markakis has seven RBIs in his last 10 games while Freeman currently has a nine game hitting streak. Albies meanwhile has recorded three RBIs in consecutive wins for Atlanta.
Right hander Anibal Sanchez gets the nod to start on top of the hill for the Braves. The 34 year old Venezuelan veteran has started a total of 14 games this season and has a record of 6-3 with an ERA of 2.89 and a WHIP of 1.06. Sanchez has allowed just one earned run in three of his previous five starts.
Sanchez is coming off an excellent performance against the Mets on August 3rd where he allowed just one earned run in six innings to get the victory. That was a good bounce back game for him after he gave up four earned runs in 6.1 innings during a loss to the Dodgers. He’s been solid most of the year and the Braves will need another solid outing from Sanchez if they are to beat the Nationals.
Gio Gonzalez gets the start for the Washington Nationals on Thursday. The 32 year old left hander has started 22 games this season and has a record of 6-8 with an ERA of 4.04 and WHIP of 1.51. Gonzalez has dropped his last six starts for the Nationals and he will be looking to break out from that losing streak against the Braves.
In his most recent outing, Gonzalez allowed a total of six runs, five of which were earned, in only 3.2 innings against the Reds last Saturday. He allowed 10 hits with two walks and five strikeouts during that game. Gonzalez allowed a run in every inning where he threw a pitch and that was really a poor effort from him on August 4th. Gonzalez has not won a decision since May 2018.
But Gonzalez has shown flashes of brilliance this season. He was 6-3 before this current losing streak. Two starts ago, he pitched over seven innings while allowing just one run against the Mariners. Unfortunately, he didn’t get help from the offense as they lost that game. Washington has a record of 2-8 in his last 10 starts.
Washington is 3-9 in their last 12 games against teams with a winning record. They are 2-6 in their last 8 home games against a team with a winning record on the road. The trends with Gonzalez don’t look good either: 1-4 in his last 5 starts with 4 days rest, 0-4 in his last four starts, last four starts on Thursday and last for starts on grass.
The Braves meanwhile love to play of Thursdays as they are 8-2 in their last 10 Thursday schedules. They are also 4-1 in Game 4s of a series and 7-2 in their last nine games overall. Atlanta is also 4-0 in Sanchez’s last four starts on the road and 4-0 in his last four starts against National League East teams.
Atlanta has the more consistent pitcher while Washington have not had much luck with Gonzalez as of late. Not only is Gonzalez struggling but he is also facing a formidable offensive team in Atlanta. Gonzalez is 5-11 in his career against the Braves with an ERA of 5.04. Meanwhile, Anibal Sanchez has been solid, allowing three or less runs in all but one of his last seven starts. We’re picking the Atlanta Braves to beat the Washington Nationals of 8/9/18.
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