BY BILL TROCCHI
ATLANTA (AP) — Drake Baldwin hit a two-run homer, Spencer Schwellenbach pitched seven strong innings and the Atlanta Braves improved to .500 for the first time this season with a 5-2 win over the skidding Washington Nationals on Tuesday night.
The Braves (21-21), who began the season 0-7, handed the Nationals their seventh straight loss.
Baldwin was 3 for 4 with two RBIs and three runs scored. Austin Riley was 2 for 4 with an RBI.
Atlanta native CJ Abrams homered on the first pitch of the game from Schwellenbach (2-3), who kept the Nationals in check from there. He gave up two runs, four hits and two walks while striking out three.
Dylan Lee pitched a scoreless eighth and Pierce Johnson worked the ninth for his first save of the season.
Amed Rosario was 2 for 3 with an RBI for the Nats, who have scored just 15 runs during the skid.
Washington starter Michael Soroka, an All-Star for Atlanta as a rookie in 2019, went four innings in his first appearance against his former team, giving up four hits and two runs while striking out four. Brad Lord (2-5) gave up two runs in two innings of relief.
Key moment
With the Braves trailing 2-0 in the fourth inning, Baldwin tied it when he drove a hanging 3-2 slider from Soroka over the right-field wall for his fourth homer of the season.
Key stat
Atlanta’s Ozzie Albies ended an 0-for-28 drought with a one-out RBI single to right field in the sixth inning. It was the longest hitless streak of the nine-year veteran’s career and the longest active streak in the majors.
Up next
Bryce Elder (2-2, 4.97 ERA) will start for the Braves against the Nationals’ Mitchell Parker (3-3, 3.97) on Wednesday night.
