Braves Bats Go Cold as Atlanta Drops Game 3 to Washington

The Atlanta Braves lost Game 3 of their four-game series to the Washington Nationals 7-2 on Wednesday night at Truist Park.

Here’s what you need to know about the competition.

The Braves called the prospect right out of Double-A for his major league debut, and everything went well. He allowed some runners to give up hits, but was not fazed, stranding Luis García Jr. at third after he came in to open the 2nd inning, as well as Lane Thomas at 2nd in the 3rd inning and Keibert Ruiz at 3rd to 4th. inning.

Washington finally broke through in the fifth inning, with a Lane Thomas homer after a leadoff double and a hit by pitch from Jacob Young that clearly shook Schwellenbach a bit – the right-hander went to bunt and struck out a 92 cutter, 4 mph from the helmet. The homer itself came from a 2-2 fastball to center, one that Thomas didn’t miss.

Schwellenbach was ultimately charged with three runs, all earned, on five total hits with one walk and five strikeouts. He caught eleven whiffs and generated a 30% CSW, allowing a total of seven hard-hit balls, but limiting the Nationals to just one for eight with runners in scoring position.

The Braves hitters had eight hits tonight and, for the first time, scored a few runs before the 7th inning.

Atlanta also went just one for eight with runners in scoring position, with Marcell Ozuna’s third-inning single being the only time a Braves hitter was able to generate offense against Nationals starter MacKenzie Gory. The left-hander racked up ten strikeouts in just 5.1 innings as Braves hitters were unable to muster a single walk and finished with thirteen strikeouts.

For Atlanta, Ozuna and Travis d’Arnaud had the RBIs while Matt Olson was the only regular with more than one hit, continuing his recent streak with two doubles in this one. Olson went 8 for 20 last week, hitting a home run, four doubles and scoring five runs.

The Braves are looking for a split series in the finale tomorrow night with Reynaldo López (2-2, 1.75 ERA) on the mound against right-hander Trevor Williams (4-0, 2.29 ERA). First pitch is scheduled for 7:20 p.m. ET on Bally Sports South.