In the top of the seventh inning of Wednesday night's game between the Washington Nationals and Atlanta Braves left fielder Michael Morse stepped to the plate and worked his magic. Braves pitcher Derek Lowe offered up his only mistake of the night, an 88 mph sinker on his first pitch to Morse and the under-the-radar Nats star plugged it over the center field wall at Turner Field.
It would be the Nationals only run of the game as the Braves defeated the Nats 3-1. Lowe held the Washington offense clueless up until Morse's bomb and even helped out with the bat himself as he hit his first career home run off Nationals starter John Lannan. Lannan also gave up a home run to Chipper Jones and a RBI single to Dan Uggla during the game. It was a slight regression in Lannan's pitching, though he did go seven innings, striking out six. He only walked one batter and gave up three runs on six hits.
Thanks to his spotless ninth inning work against the Nationals, Atlanta reliever Craig Kimbrel broke the rookie save-record of 40 set last season by Neftali Feliz of the Texas Rangers. Kimbrel leads the Majors in saves with 41.
The Nationals are now 63-71 on the season.