Nationals southpaw Ross Detwiler ran into deep trouble in the third inning, but he showed strong poise and the Nationals defense helped him out to escape a jam and keep the score tied until the fourth inning where the Nationals opened up the scoring and took the lead 1-0 over the Atlanta Braves.
Detwiler loaded the bases in the third with no outs by giving up a single to David Ross and walking Jack Wilson and Braves pitcher Mike Minor. However, Detwiler was able to induce two fly outs and get Chipper Jones to ground out to Ryan Zimmerman in the final out of the top of the inning. It was a remarkable display of poise and aggressiveness the Nationals love and will depend on in the coming seasons as they build for contention.
In the fourth inning Nationals catcher Wilson Ramos clocked his 15th home run of the season off Minor on the sixth pitch of the at-bat to give the Nationals a 1-0 lead going into the fifth.