Markakis, Suzuki come through for Braves without Freeman
A look around Major League Baseball’s NL East race today.
Friday’s scores
Atlanta 7, Washington 4
Philadelphia 7, Pittsburgh 2
N.Y. Mets 3, L.A. Angels 0
L.A. Dodgers 7, Miami 2
Saturday’s games
Philadelphia (Velasquez 2-3) at Pittsburgh (Nova 3-3), 4:05 p.m.
Washington (Scherzer 4-2) at Atlanta (Colon 2-4), 4:10 p.m.
L.A. Angels (Meyer 2-1) at N.Y. Mets (Wheeler 2-2), 7:15 p.m.
Miami (Straily 1-3) at L.A. Dodgers (Urias 0-1), 10:10 p.m.
Washington Nationals 25-16
▪ Gio Gonzalez gave up four runs on nine hits and three walks in 5 2/3 innings Friday against the Braves.
▪ Max Scherzer is 5-0 with a 3.12 ERA in six starts against the Braves since the start of 2016. The Nationals are 6-0 in those starts.
Atlanta Braves 17-22, 7 GB
▪ Four Braves relievers combined to throw 3 2/3 perfect innings Friday against the Nationals.
▪ The Braves scored three eighth-inning runs on a Nick Markakis go-ahead single a Kurt Suzuki two-run home run.
▪ Dansby Swanson hit a two-run home run and is batting .286 in May after batting .156 in April.
New York Mets 17-23, 7.5 GB
▪ Jake DeGrom (3-1) ended a 17-game stretch in which no Mets starters got an out in the seventh inning Friday against the Angels.
▪ DeGrom retired 13 straight at one point and gave up four hits, struck out nine and walked three in seven innings.
Philadelphia Phillies 15-24, 9 GB
▪ Jeremy Hellickson retired 16 of the final 17 batters he faced against the Pirates on Friday.
▪ The Phillies snapped a four-game losing streak.
Miami Marlins 14-27, 11 GB
▪ The Marlins have lost 10 of their past 11 games.
▪ Dan Straily (1-3, 3.56 ERA) has allowed only an earned run and four hits in the 12 innings of his past two starts.
Around the Division
Late-game heroics lifted Braves over Nationals.
Just how good are the Nationals? It’s hard to tell.
DeGrom came through when the Mets really needed it.