Minter in control with walk-free streak

WASHINGTON — It took A.J. Minter a little longer to get to the majors this season than expected because of a couple of injuries in the spring, but now that he’s here, the rookie left-hander is demonstrating why some believe he’s a potential future closer.

Minter struck out three in a scoreless eighth inning in the Braves’ 8-2 win against the Nationals on Wednesday night, giving him 12 strike- outs with no walks in 8⅔ innings over his first nine relief appearances, only the second Braves pitcher in more than a century to start his career with nine walk- free appearances.

Ian Thomas had no walks in his first nine appearances in 2014. Minter could become the first Brave to start with 10 walk-less appearances since at least 1913. month, Minter, featureswho turneda mid-to-24 this upper-90-mph fastball and devastating slider. He was a second-round draft pick by the Braves out of Texas A&M in 2015, and likely would’ve been a first-rounder if he had not been recovering from Tommy John elbow surgery. He had a 3.12 ERA and .212 opponents’ average through his first nine major league appearances, allowing seven hits, three runs and one homer and posting four multi-strikeout totals in the seven games in which he pitched a full inning.

Minter gave up three hits, two runs and a homer in 1⅓ innings of his second big- league outing against the Rockies on Aug. 27. Since then he had yielded four hits with one run and nine strike- outs in 6⅓ innings, posting a 1.42 ERA and .174 opponents’ average over seven appear- ances through Wednesday.