ATLANTA (AP) — Jake Irvin held the Braves hitless over five innings before leaving with an injury, and the Washington Nationals defeated Atlanta 2-0 with a combined one-hitter Saturday.
Michael Harris led off the seventh with a clean single to center against Brad Lord for the Braves’ only hit. A call that was overturned — and then disputed — put two runners on for Atlanta, but Ozzie Albies popped out, Dominic Smith flied out and Austin Riley fanned to preserve the shutout.
Lord worked three innings before Richard Lovelady turned in a perfect ninth for his fourth save.
and homered off starter Grant Holmes for the only runs of a game that was delayed 41 minutes in the middle of the second by rain.
It was an unlikely performance by Irvin (2-4), who had not earned a win since on March 29. He bent over and grimaced after his final out in the fifth, went back out in the sixth for warmups, but was lifted without throwing another official pitch.
The nature of his injury wasn’t immediately known.
The 29-year-old right-hander walked one and struck out seven during his 80-pitch stint. The Braves didn’t come close to a hit while he was on the mound.
Lord took over in the sixth and retired the first-place Braves in order before Harris broke up the hitless showing. Vivas at third bobbled what could’ve been a double-play grounder, allowing Harris to reach the bag ahead of the delayed toss.
The Braves challenged and the call was overturned, but a further review of the replay showed shortstop CJ Abrams’ right hand appeared to strike Harris in the helmet when the runner’s foot popped off the base. Manager Blake Butera came out to dispute the play, but the revised call stood.
It didn’t matter. Atlanta couldn’t take advantage of the break.
Holmes (3-2) fanned 10 in five innings — the third time in his career he has reached double-digit strikeouts. He escaped a bases-loaded jam with no outs in the third. Luis Garcia Jr. hit a back-to-the-mound grounder that became a 1-2-3 double play, and Holmes hopped off the mound after Jose Tena went down swinging on three pitches.
Up next
The series wraps up Sunday with LHP Foster Griffin (5-2, 4.02) going for the Nationals against Braves LHP Martín Pérez (2-2, 2.85). Atlanta will be trying to avoid only its second series loss of the season after splitting the first two games.
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