Billy Traber could only glance back at second base. He’d left too much on that 1-0 pitch to Jeff Francoeur, and as he punched his glove, he knew he’d made amistake. His four-run, fourth-inning lead had become a three run lead, and from there, Traber seemed to lose confidence with every pitch. He hit Matt Diaz to load the bases. He gave up an RBI single to Adam LaRoche. When Bernie Castro couldn’t turn two, another run scored.
With two on and one out, Traber was in trouble. Then he did something far beyond his 26 years: He stepped off the mound. Sometimes, young pitchers tend to force their throws when they get frustrated. But Traber calmed down, looked back at Castro and extended his index and pinkie fingers. Let’s get two, he said.
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Sure enough, the moment off the mound worked for Traber (3-1), as he retired the next two batters to end the Braves’ best offensive chance of the evening. He wasn’t dominant in his fourth start of the year, but Traber had enough of his good stuff Wednesday night in a 9-5 win over Atlanta.
“I thought I threw the ball OK,” Traber said after the game, though he didn’t sound particularly impressed with his performance. “When they hit me, they hit me hard.”
He added: “A lot of times, I had trouble throwing inside, and that’s where I got hurt.”
Ryan Zimmerman led the Nationals’ offense by going 2-for-5, including a two-run homer. Felipe Lopez and Castro also had two hits.
Most importantly for the Nats (53-67), they capitalized on their scoring chances early on against starter John Smoltz, who pitched a complete game in his previous outing against the Nationals. Alex Escobar and Brian Schneider started off the inning with back-to-back hits before four Nationals hitters combined to drive in four runs against Smoltz.
“It was a very nice feeling to be able to get to him early,” manager Frank Robinson said. “The longer he stays out there, the tougher he usually gets. If you have a chance to jump on him, you want to do it and take advantage of it.”
Even so, the Braves came back against Trabera few innings later. Atlanta got a break on Castro’s poor throw in the fourth, and in the sixth, one run scored when Andruw Jones’ broken bat and the ball reached Zimmerman’s glove at the same time, preventing Zimmerman from making the play.
The Nationals did widen the lead in the seventh inning via a three-run home run from Schneider. It was just the fourth home run of the season for Schneider, who’s averaging .239 at the plate.
“We are in good shape right now,” left fielder Alfonso Soriano said. “Everybody’s hitting the ball well.”
Chad Cordero pitched a scoreless ninth inning to earn his 22nd save of the year, though it wasn’t easy. He gave up one hit, and Zimmerman had to leap high to grab a high-hit ball from Edgar Renteria.
