ATLANTA | Of all the ways for the Washington Nationals’ eight-game winning streak to end, this had to register as the least likely. Their budding ace was on the mound, against a team he had handled as well as any in his short career, in a ballpark where he had notched one of the signature wins of the last two seasons.
Not much about this scenario - John Lannan coming into Turner Field and faltering - played along the lines of predictability. But then, neither had the Nationals’ streak, what with its comeback victories despite poor starting pitching and the renewed sense of fight it instilled in baseball’s worst team.
So maybe the Nationals’ 8-1 loss to the Atlanta Braves was a kind of course correction.
Lannan, who had excelled at the park ever since he beat John Smoltz on the night the future Hall of Famer struck out his 3,000th batter last season, looked for a rare moment like a young pitcher, not an ace-in-training. That was aided by a deflating call, a pair of errors and another young starter deftly controlling the Nationals’ bats.
“They just beat us. We didn’t play as well as we’ve played lately,” interim manager Jim Riggleman said. “John didn’t have his best day. That’s a good ballclub over there. When you do that, they’re going to take advantage of it.”
Lannan, who had a 2.37 ERA in three starts in Atlanta, fought to control his fastball all night, and the Nationals lost the one thing that was working for them against sensational Braves rookie Tommy Hanson.
From the moment Nyjer Morgan broke for second after a leadoff single in the first inning, it was evident the Nationals would be running on Braves catcher Brian McCann most of the night. McCann came into the night having thrown out just 25 percent of the baserunners who tried to steal on him this year, and that percentage was the best of his career.
And with Hanson on the mound - who gave up one run on three hits in seven innings against the Nationals last month - there was no reason to think scoring runs wouldn’t require a little extra sweat.
It worked in the first inning; Morgan stole second and scored on a single by Ryan Zimmerman. Then, as if to prove what the Nationals could do against McCann, Zimmerman stole second, pocketing his first stolen base of the year.
But by the time Washington had its next baserunner in the third inning, the Braves had tied the game against Lannan, who walked the first two batters of the second inning.
With Morgan on first and one out in the third, they went back to testing McCann. The center fielder stole second base with Cristian Guzman at the plate, then shot for third later in the at-bat.
He slid headfirst, and replays showed Morgan’s hand reached the bag ahead of Chipper Jones’ tag. But third base umpire Larry Vanover, who ruled against the Nationals on a pair of pivotal home run replays in New York earlier this year, called Morgan out.
Hitting coach Rick Eckstein yelled at Vanover from the dugout, then stepped on the field to argue the call - an offense that immediately got him ejected by Vanover. But Eckstein persisted, confronting Vanover and eventually needing to be restrained by interim manager Jim Riggleman.
There was no turning the decision, though, and when Guzman singled to left, there was no one on base.
“If [Morgan] was safe, we might have got a run out of that,” Riggleman said. “Certainly that helps us in terms of momentum. But the fact that they showed patience at the plate, got a couple bases on balls, that probably turned the momentum more than anything.”
Lannan was pulled in the middle of the fifth, the earliest exit he has made since lasting just three innings on Opening Day. The five earned runs he gave up tied his second most of the year, as did his four walks.
“The first two pitches have to be strikes for me,” Lannan said. “When I fall behind, I just get into trouble. It’s mostly getting ahead.”
Added Riggleman: “He’s not happy with his performance. But he feels comfortable that it’s an adjustment he’s going to be able to make and be better [in his next start] on Sunday.”
Whatever chances the Nationals had at a comeback were smothered by Hanson’s nasty four-pitch repertoire.
Washington got seven hits off Hanson, but none of them went for extra bases until Alberto Gonzalez’s double in the seventh.
“He’s a good pitcher,” catcher Wil Nieves said. “He throws to both sides of the plate. He throws his breaking ball any time. He kept us off-balance.”
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