Braves’ Foltynewicz dazzles Nats in 2-hitter
Atlanta’s Mike Foltynewicz pitched a twohitter for his first career complete game, Dansby Swanson broke the game open with a three-run homer in the seventh and the host Braves beat the Washington Nationals 4-0 on Friday.
Foltynewicz retired 20 straight batters before issuing a leadoff walk in the eighth to outpitch Stephen Strasburg.
The first-place Braves, winners of five of their past seven, moved 1½ games ahead of the Nationals in the NL East.
A night after Sean Newcomb pitched seven strong innings to snap Washington’s six-game winning streak, Foltynewicz was even better as he improved to 3-1 with a 0.56 ERA in his past five starts. He struck out 11 and walked one.
“I’m just very energized still,” Foltynewicz said with a big smile. “I feel I can go back and at least get one more. Great crowd. Great energy.”
Foltynewicz allowed a second-inning single to Bryce Harper, then set down 20 straight Nationals before Juan Soto walked in the eighth. He closed it out in the ninth by striking out pinchhitter Michael Taylor, getting Wilmer Difo to ground out, allowing a single to Trea Turner and striking out Harper to end it.
With runners on first and second and no outs in the seventh, Strasburg struck out Preston Tucker before Swanson hit his fourth homer into the left-field seats. Strasburg followed by striking out Foltynewicz, then stepped back, placed his glove on the mound and called for a trainer. Strasburg left the game with cramps in his left wrist.
“It’s happened before,” Strasburg said. “It’s obviously humid out there. I think it’s probably something related to dehydration. It was just spasming up on me.”