Braves hit more homers as they beat the Nationals 7-6

The Braves hitters are not going to let the horrific starting pitchers bring this team down. They once again bailed out a starter who pitched poorly by hitting four home runs to win 7-6 in game one of the weekend series.

Robbie Erlin was awful. He gave up three runs in the first inning and two more in the second. He allowed those five runs in only 1.2 innings. His ERA as a starter in five starts for the Braves is now 8.18. You wonder if he will be designated for assignment and let go and it's highly doubtful Erlin will get another start.

But down 5-0, the Braves hitters didn't flinch. Freddie Freeman hit a two-run home run in the fourth inning. Ronald Acuna then hit a two-run bomb in the fifth inning to make it a 5-4 Nationals lead.

Then after Washington added a run in the fifth inning on a sac fly, the Braves tied the score at 6-6 when Freddie Freeman hit his second two-run home run of the night.

Dansby Swanson then gave the Braves the lead in the eighth inning with a solo home run, his seventh of the season.

Huascar Ynoa pitched three impressive innings in relief. He allowed just one run in 3.0 innings. Ynoa deserves tremendous credit for keeping the game close until the offense could get going.

A.J. Minter pitched 1.1 scoreless frames, followed by a scoreless innings from Shane Greene, Chris Martin and Mark Melancon, who got his ninth save of the season.

Atlanta's bullpen pitched 7.1 innings and gave up only one run on three hits. Overall in 44 games, the Braves bullpen now has a 3.31 ERA with a 17-7 record.

Meanwhile the starting rotation numbers continue to make you wonder how the Braves can be in first place. With Erlin's horrible start, the rotation now has a combined 6.11 ERA.

The starting pitchers not named Max Fried, Mike Soroka and Ian Anderson now have an ERA of 8.91.

The Braves (26-18) will send Josh Tomlin (2-2, 3.77) to the mound Friday. He was solid in his last start, giving up just one run in six innings.

Philadelphia (21-19) lost to Miami (20-19) Thursday night so the Phillies are now three games back of Atlanta while the Marlins are 3.5 games back.

For more Braves coverage, listen to The Bill Shanks Show weekdays at 3:00 p.m. ET on SportsRadio 93-1 WXKO TheSuperStations.com. Follow Bill on Twitter @billshanks and you can email him at thebillshanksshow@yahoo.com.