Atlanta scored four in the ninth to make it more than interesting, but Mark Melancon finally put out the fire for Washington in a 7-6 win Saturday night.
Rookie Reynaldo Lopez (1-1, 5.74 ERA, 1.72 WHIP) had a solid outing for the Nationals (68-47), giving up a run on five hits in seven innings of work, striking out two and walking two.
Lopez left with a 7-1 lead. The Braves (44-73) got a run in the eighth and then added four in the ninth, on RBI singles by Jeff Francoeur and Ender Inciarte and a two-run double by Erick Aybar off Melancon, who relieved Yusmeiro Petit (1 save, 3.26 ERA, 1.19 WHIP).
Aybar was thrown out at third on the play, and Melancon (33 saves, 1.51 ERA, 0.90 WHIP) retired Freddie Freeman and Matt Kemp to close out the win.
Rookie Trea Turner (.315/.345/.537, 3 HR, 14 RBI) was 3-for-5 with a homer and three runs scored.
Daniel Murphy (.348/.387/.616, 22 HR, 86 RBI) had a two-run homer on a four-RBI day.
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Chris Graham
