Dansby homer wins for Braves

ATLANTA — Dansby Swanson hit a two-out, tworun homer in the bottom of the ninth inning to cap a fourrun rally that gave the Atlanta Braves a stunning 7-6 victory over the Washington Nationals on Monday night.

With the Braves trailing 6-3 against Washington closer Daniel Hudson (1-2), Adam Duvall made it close by hitting a two-run shot that just cleared the wall in left field. Johan Camargo followed with a single, but Hudson retired the next two hitters to put the Braves down to their final out. It never came. Swanson drove one over the wall in right-center for the game winner. When he got to home plate, his teammates toasted him from afar, jumping up and down with their hands in the air.

The rally ruined a memorable night for Washington rookie Luis Garcia, who became the first player born in the 2000s to hit a big league homer.

The youngest player in the majors at age 20, Garcia hit a two-run shot off Touki Toussaint in the second inning. Asdrubal Cabrera, Juan Soto and Eric Thames also homered for the defending World Series champs, but it wasn’t enough.

Garcia came into the shortened season as one of Washington’s top prospects. He got his chance when Starlin Castro went on the injured list with a broken right wrist and doesn’t look over-matched in the least.

Two batters later, Thames delivered an even longer drive over the center-field wall to give the Nationals a 3-0 lead.

The Braves responded with two runs in the bottom half against Anibal Sanchez, but Toussaint surrendered another run in the fourth without giving up a hit.