The Atlanta Braves refused to trade one of their top-four pitching prospects at the trade deadline. While originally thought to be building for the future, the future may be now for Mike Minor or Julio Teheran.
Derek Lowe got pounded once again on Tuesday night in a 9-3 defeat. The big blow, a grand slam from Rick Ankiel in the fourth inning, gave the Nationals a 6-3 lead and they would add to that with home runs from Danny Espinosa and Michael Morse.
After trailing 1-0 early, Atlanta actually had the lead for a few innings. Michael Bourn doubled down the first base line to give him his first RBI with the Braves and Martin Prado drove another run in after grounding out to second. Jose Constanza also drove in a run with an RBI-single.
John Lannan dominated the Braves after a brief hiccup in the early innings. He worked 6.2 innings and gave up eight hits and a walk. He set a season-high in strikeouts with eight. Henry Rodriguez finished out the game for Washington and did not all a run to score in 2.1 innings of work.
The Braves have hit their lowest low since May. This team is struggling right now. Maybe Chipper Jones' return will spark the club, but until Brian McCann returns it's tough to see this team winning too many games.
Atlanta will attempt to avoid the sweep -- something they have not had happen to them all season long -- Wednesday afternoon. First pitch is at 1:05.