Washington --- There actually were some fans in the stands at the end of Tuesday night's game, and the rain delay was half as long, but the Braves couldn't shake the dreary feeling they've had at Nationals Park.
After a long night Monday, the Braves made the entire road trip feel that way. Tuesday, they lost their second in a row to the Nationals --- this one 4-3 after an hour-long rain delay --- to fall to 1-4 on this three-city trip. After opening the season 5-1, the Braves are 1-7 since. They've helped the Nationals triple their win total to 3-10 and make their own three-game sweep of the Nationals at Turner Field a distant memory.
The Braves' faulty defense in the sixth inning let the Nationals loose for a three-run rally, and the Braves ran themselves out of two innings to prevent a rally of their own.
To make matters worse, they put runners on second and third with nobody out in the ninth and came away empty, just like they had for all but two innings of the first two games of this series. After a Matt Diaz walk and a Jordan Schafer double, Joel Hanrahan retired the side on a ground-out, a pop-up and a ground-out.
Adam Dunn got the comeback started for the Nationals by launching a home run off of Kenshin Kawakami to straightaway center field in the sixth.
The Braves' defense, which had played well behind Kawakami to that point --- on stellar catches by Diaz and Schafer --- let him down. Chipper Jones botched a ground ball off the bat of Elijah Dukes for an error, and Dukes scored from first to tie the score 3-3 when Diaz let an Austin Kearns line drive get past him for a triple.
Called upon to hold the score there, reliever Jeff Bennett recorded two outs before giving up the go-ahead run on a pinch-hit single by Josh Willingham.
Kawakami gave up four runs in five innings, but only two were earned.
Brian McCann returned to the lineup after getting fitted for a new contact lens on a visit to an eye specialist Tuesday morning. He showed a good eye in the first inning to draw a walk, score a run and help the Braves get off to a 3-0 start.
But aftergoing scoreless in eight of nine innings Monday night, the Braves were shut down by Shairon Martis after the three-run first inning.
A base-running mistake by Schafer seemed to turn the momentum the Nationals' way as he ran the Braves out of the sixth inning. Schafer tried to turn a double to left center into a triple and then thought better of it and turn around between second and third, only to get nailed returning to second by Dukes.
Then in the seventh, Martin Prado tried to advance to third on a pitch that bounced to Jones, but he left Jones standing at the plate after getting nailed at third by Jesus Flores.
The Braves' three runs in the first inning were more than they had managed in nine innings in the series-opening loss. They scored all three runs with two outs after Jones and McCann drew walks from Martis.
Casey Kotchman drove in a run on double, and Jeff Francoeur beat out an infield hit, drawing an errant throw from Alberto Gonzalez to plate two more.
NEXT FOR Braves
* Who: at Nationals
* When: 7:05 p.m. today
* TV; radio: SportSouth; 640 AM, 96.1 FM
