Veteran left-hander Martin Perez received the last-minute starting assignment and responded by throwing 6 2/3 no-hit innings and leading the Atlanta Braves to an 8-3 victory over the visiting Washington Nationals on Saturday to stretch their winning streak to four games.
Perez learned he would start just before gametime when Reynaldo Lopez complained of left knee soreness during his pregame routine. Perez, who was scheduled to start on Sunday, was going through his normal pregame warmup and had plenty of time to prepare for the unexpected start.
Perez (7-6) did not allow a hit until Brady House lined a 2-0 sinker into right field for a clean single. He walked two and struck out six in seven scoreless innings.
The losing pitcher was Miles Mikolas (3-8). He worked six innings and allowed four runs on nine hits — three of them solo home runs — and one walk, striking out three.
The Braves took a 2-0 lead in the first inning when Ronald Acuna Jr. and Matt Olson hit back-to-back home runs. Acuna’s shot, his ninth, traveled 419 feet into the waterfall beyond the right-center field fence. Olson’s blast into the right field seats was his 30th homer, surpassing his total for each of the last two years.
Atlanta made it 3-0 in the second inning when Mike Yastrzemski doubled and scored when Drake Baldwin ended an 0-for-9 skid with an RBI single.
The Braves used the longball to tack on another run in the fourth. Dominic Smith, after an ABS challenge overturned a strike-three call, hit a solo shot into the right field seats. It was his eighth homer.
Atlanta put the game away with four runs in the seventh. Smith drew a bases-loaded walk, Acuna scored on a wild pitch and Austin Riley added a two-run double that ticked off the glove of center fielder Jacob Young.
The Nationals scored three times off reliever Danny Young in the eighth. Dylan Crews doubled home the first run and CJ Abrams followed with a two-run single.
