Chris Sale struck out nine while allowing three hits over eight innings, and Matt Olson hit a bases-loaded triple in the 10th to lead the Atlanta Braves over the Washington Nationals 5-0 on Tuesday for a day-night doubleheader sweep.
Atlanta took the opener 6-3 as Olson homered for the fourth straight game and has won three in a row following a four-game slide. Jurickson Profar and Olson hit back-to-back home runs as part of a five-run fourth inning. Olson reached 27 home runs this season and has hit one in four consecutive games for the first time since September 2023.
Washington (62-90) reached 90 losses for the fifth straight year, a first for the Nationals/Montreal Expos franchise.
After the start of the second game was delayed two hours by rain, Sale walked none and lowered his ERA to 2.35. Tyler Kiney (6-3) followed with two innings of two-hit relief.
Drake Baldwin hit a go-ahead double off Mason Thompson (1-1) that went over right fielder Dylan Crews. Olson, who had been 0 for 4, hit his second triple this year and Ozzie Albies added a sacrifice fly.
Key Moments
Profar and Olson combined in Game 1 for Atlanta’s eighth set of back-to-back home runs this season and the team’s first since Aug. 7.
With runners on the corners in Game 2, Ronald Acuña Jr. made a leaping catch at the wall to end the ninth and send the game to extra innings.
Key Stats
Nationals left fielder Daylen Lile’s triple in the eighth was his 10th of the season. That leads rookies and puts Lile past Bryce Harper (2012) for the most triples in a season by a rookie in Nationals history since the team moved to Washington in 2005.
Game 2 was the ninth MLB game this season to enter extra innings scoreless.
Up next
Braves right-hander Hurston Waldrep (4-1, 2.78) faces Nationals right-hander Brad Lord (5-8, 4.21) on Wednesday.
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