Major League Baseball
BOXSCORE | RECAP
Atlanta 5, Washington 2
When: 7:05 PM ET, Wednesday, September 18, 2013
Where: Nationals Park, Washington, District of Columbia
Temperature: 65°
Umpires: Home - CB Bucknor, 1B - Dale Scott, 2B - Todd Tichenor, 3B - Jordan Baker
Attendance: 30636

Braves 5, Nationals 2: Dan Uggla and Justin Upton homered as visiting Atlanta rallied to salvage the series finale and close in on the National League East title.

The Braves reduced their magic number to win their first division title since 2005 to two, extending their advantage over Washington to nine games. Uggla and Upton went deep in a three-run sixth as Kameron Loe (1-2) earned the victory in relief and Craig Kimbrel notched his major league-best 48th save.

Ross Ohlendorf (4-1) surrendered one hit through the first five innings before giving up the two homers, finishing with three runs allowed on four hits with six strikeouts in as many innings. The Nationals dropped 5 1/2 games behind Cincinnati for the second NL wild-card spot.

Washington took a 2-0 lead in the fifth on Jayson Werth’s bases-loaded walk and Bryce Harper’s sacrifice fly off Atlanta starter Alex Wood. Home plate umpire CB Bucknor ejected Atlanta manager Fredi Gonzalez for arguing after Wood’s 3-2 pitch to Werth just missed inside, and Wood was tossed by Bucknor after being pulled following Harper’s sacrifice fly.

The Braves pulled within 2-1 on Uggla’s leadoff homer in the sixth, and Jordan Schafer dropped down a bunt single that Ohlendorf threw down the right-field line, sending Schafer to third. Ohlendorf retired the next two hitters, but Upton crushed a hanging curveball into the left-field seats to put Atlanta ahead 3-2 and Brian McCann added an RBI double in the seventh.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Washington OF Denard Span extended his hitting streak to a major league-best 29 games with a leadoff single in the seventh. … Uggla hit his first homer in 34 games dating back to July 25. … The Nationals open a four-game series at home Thursday against Miami, while the Braves are off Thursday before a weekend set at Chicago.
Top Game Performances
Starting Pitchers
Atlanta   Washington
Alex Wood Player Ross Ohlendorf
No Decision W/L Loss
4.2 IP 6.0
3 Strikeouts 6
6 Hits 4
0.00 ERA 4.50
Hitting
Atlanta   Washington
Justin Upton Player Jayson Werth
2 Hits 2
2 RBI 1
1 HR 0
5 TB 2
.500 Avg 1.000
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Hits HR TB Avg LOB K RBI BB SB Errors
Atlanta 8 2 15 .235 13 9 5 1 0 1
Washington 7 0 7 .219 14 5 2 3 1 1