ATLANTA — Rio Ruiz, Matt Kemp and Tyler Flowers hit home runs and the Atlanta Braves again relied on their bullpen for a 5-2 victory over Max Scherzer and Washington on Saturday night, the Nationals’ fourth straight loss.
After Bartolo Colon allowed two runs, one earned, in 4 1/3 innings, five relievers combined for 4 2/3 hitless innings. Ian Krol (1-1) recorded the final two outs in the fifth. Jim Johnson pitched the ninth for his eighth save.
Four relievers combined for 3 2/3 perfect innings in Atlanta’s 7-4 win over Washington on Friday night. The Braves have won seven of nine.
Ruiz and Kemp hit homers off Scherzer (4-3). The shot by Ruiz in the second was his first career homer and first hit of the season.
Ruiz was recalled from Triple-A Gwinnett on Thursday when the team placed Freddie Freeman on the disabled list with a fractured left wrist. Freeman is expected to miss about 10 weeks. The Braves added help at first base by acquiring Matt Adams from St. Louis during the game.
Kemp hit a line-drive homer off Scherzer in the fourth. Flowers hit his second homer off Matt Albers in the eighth.
Scherzer has allowed nine homers, second-most on the team behind the 10 allowed by Gio Gonzalez.
Nationals manager Dusty Baker said before the game his relievers were “overworked and overtasked” and he was hoping for a long start from Scherzer. Instead, Scherzer lasted only five innings and had thrown 106 pitches, allowing three runs, four hits and three walks, before a rain delay that lasted almost 2 hours.
Braves first baseman Jace Peterson jumped into the protective net between home plate and the Atlanta dugout to catch Matt Wieters’ foul ball in the sixth. Umpires huddled before ruling the catch was legal.
Michael Taylor made a diving catch of Emilio Bonifacio’s line drive in the right-center gap in the seventh. Taylor then slid on his chest several feet on the wet grass.
Nationals lefty Sammy Solis, on the DL since April 19 with left elbow inflammation, still is not throwing. An MRI last month showed no ligament damage.
Braves lefty Eric O’Flaherty was placed on the 10-day DL with a lower back strain. O’Flaherty has a 6.59 ERA in 18 games, allowing 10 earned runs in 13 2/3 innings. RHP Luke Jackson was recalled from Triple-A Gwinnett.
2 TRADES FOR BRAVES
The Braves acquired Adams and cash considerations from St. Louis for minor-league infielder Juan Yepez in a deal announced about the same time as the rain delay began.
Atlanta also added bullpen depth by acquiring righty Enrique Burgos from Arizona for cash considerations. Burgos was designated for assignment by the Diamondbacks this week after posting a 6.23 ERA at Triple-A Reno this season. He will report to Triple-A Gwinnett.
Nationals righty Stephen Strasburg (4-1) will try to salvage one win for Washington in Sunday’s final game of the series. Strasburg is 6-1 with a 2.33 ERA in his last eight starts against Atlanta.
Braves lefty Jaime Garcia (1-2) is 5-2 with a 3.21 ERA in eight career starts against the Nationals.
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