Braves Rally From 9-0 Deficit to Beat Nationals in 11 Innings

Atlanta Braves reliever Chad Durbin celebrates the final out in their comeback win over the Nationals 11-10 in 11 innings. (Carolyn Kaster)

With baseball's second half wearing on, divisional games become more and more important. The Washington Nationals have been leading the NL East for the majority of the season, but have to be careful not to let up now. The Atlanta Braves are one of the teams hot on their trail. They travelled this weekend to the nation's capital to take on the Nationals.

In the series opener tonight, the Nationals jumped out in front early when right fielder Michael Morse crushed a three-run home run off Braves starter Tommy Hanson. In the fourth inning, Hanson served up another three-run bomb, this time to third baseman Ryan Zimmerman. One inning later, the Nationals offense was at it again. They loaded the bases and scored three more runs. When all was said and done, the Nationals' lead was 9-0.

Meanwhile, the Nationals ace Stephen Strasburg was in control, until he ran into some trouble in the sixth inning. His first mistake was when he left a pitch over the plate to Braves catcher Brian McCann, who hit it out for a two-run homer. Later in the inning, the Braves struck again when left fielder Martin Prado doubled home a pair of runs.

Still down 9-4 in the eighth inning, the Braves got in business again when they loaded the bases. Right fielder Jason Heyward drew a walk to score a run. The next batter was veteran third baseman Chipper Jones. Jones' single to left scored two. First baseman Freddie Freeman's RBI single score one more run. Despite the big inning, the Braves still trailed 9-8.

Nationals closer Tyler Clippard came in the ninth to try and save his team's dwindled lead. He got himself into trouble by walking Braves second baseman Dan Uggla and hit shortstop Paul Janish with a pitch. Center fielder Michael Bourn made Clippard pay when he smashed a ball to deep right center for a triple. Two runs came across to score as the Braves finally took the lead 10-9.

With their one-run lead going into the bottom of the ninth, the Braves brought in their own closer Craig Kimbrel. The Nationals though weren't willing to just go down. Second baseman Danny Espinosa connected on a solo shot to tie up the score. This crazy game wasn't over yet. We were headed for extras.

In the top of the 11th inning, Uggla led off for the Braves. He hit a ball hard to third base. A throwing error by Zimmerman allowed Uggla to reach second base. Uggla advanced to third on a passed ball. Janish hit a bloop single to score Uggla. In the bottom half of the inning, Braves reliever Chad Durbin came in to try and finish off the Nationals once again. This time he got the job done with a 1-2-3 inning.

The win was the Braves' largest comeback since 1987. More importantly, it pulls them to 2 1/2 games behind the Nationals. There's still three games left in the weekend series, including a double-header tomorrow. The Nationals need to bounce back from this game. Losing this type of lead is very disheartening. They must remember that this is merely one bump along a long the road of a long regular season. With as unexpected as this game was, we could be in for a great rest of the series and second half in the NL East.