ATLANTA (AP) — Lane Thomas hit a three-run home run and the Washington Nationals beat Atlanta 7-2 on Wednesday night to spoil Braves right-hander Spencer Schwellenbach’s major league debut.
Schwellenbach (0-1), who had never pitched above Double-A, lasted five innings, giving up three runs on five hits with five strikeouts, one walk and a hit batter.
After a leadoff double in the fifth, Schwellenbach hit Jacob Young in the head with a fastball when the No. 9 hitter squared to bunt. Young fell, face-down at the plate and Schwellenbach immediately put both hands on his head and walked toward home plate.
“I felt bad for (Young), I felt bad for (Schwellenbach),” Nationals manager Dave Martinez said. “He didn’t want to do that, but it looks like it came out OK.”
Young was down for a minute, but stayed in the game. Two batters later, Thomas homered to give Washington a 3-1 lead. One inning later, Young laced a two-out, two-run single to push the lead to 5-2. Kelbert Ruiz capped the Nationals’ scoring with a two-run single in the ninth that a sliding Michael Harris could not quite come up with.
“That was scary for sure,” Schwellenbach said. “Obviously, very happy that he stayed in the game and that nothing was wrong with him. (Braves pitching coach Rick Kranitz) came out and talked to me, just kind of got me settled down and it helped for sure. I was able to get back out there and keep going.”
