Soroka gives up 3 homers in Nats loss

A series dominated by Braves starting pitchers concluded with their ace allowing four times as many runs as his previous three colleagues combined.

The Braves couldn’t complete their first ever fourgame sweep of the Nationals, dropping the series finale Sunday, 9-4. It snapped their franchise-record 13-game home winning streak and overall nine-game streak.

“If you’d have told me we’d have an 8-1 homestand these nine games we had, I’d have taken it anytime,” manager Brian Snitker said.

The matchup of dueling aces, Mike Soroka and Max Scherzer, didn’t meet the hype. Washington attacked Soroka early, with Adam Eaton knocking a two-run homer that put his Nationals up two batters into the afternoon.

The right-hander allowed another pair of homers in the ensuing innings. Yan Gomes planted a change-up into the seats in the second. Juan Soto homered on a fastball in the third. Soroka settled in to throw another three innings, all scoreless, but the damage was done.

“It’s part of the learning curve,” Snitker said. “He gives himself a chance. He doesn’t doubt himself. He trusts his stuff all the time. It’s probably just a little aggression. Might need to be a little more aggressive starting out because as the game went on, his stuff picked up really good. It’s things he’s just going to continue to learn. I loved the way he finished.”

After not allowing multiple homers in any career start prior to Sept. 2, Soroka has served up five homers in his past two outings. He’s allowed 13 on the season, still the fewest in the National League and tied with Tampa Bay’s Charlie Morton for fewest in the majors.

Soroka’s first-inning ERA is 4.15 (12 earned runs over 26 innings), opposed to a 2.38 ERA across his other frames.

“Bad pitches that got hit,” Soroka said regarding the recent homers. “It’s going to happen. Like I said, previously, I did a better job missing out of the zone and in spots where I wasn’t going to get hurt. So it’s up to me to get those pitches back on those corners, 1-0 fastballs left up over the plate, they’re going to get hit. That’s no surprise. That’s on me to get the ball down again and miss in the right spots.”

Before Soroka’s outing, Braves starters allowed just one run across 19 innings against the Nationals. Max Fried went seven scoreless Thursday, Dallas Keuchel added six scoreless Friday and Julio Teheran scattered one run over six innings Saturday.

Also unlike the other meetings, the Braves’ offense had no response for Washington’s pitching. The Braves defeated Patrick Corbin and Stephen Strasburg, but they couldn’t overcome Scherzer, who tossed six innings with one blemish — a Matt Joyce solo homer.

The Braves were outhit 17-7, with Joyce collecting the only two hits before the ninth. Charlie Culberson snapped an 0-for-26 streak with a homer in the final inning.

Despite the loss, the Braves leave the weekend up nine games with a magic number of 11 to clinch the National League East.