Braves shut out Nationals for 5th consecutive home win

ATLANTA _ Seven wins in 11 games and a five-game home winning streak might seem like modest achievements for a major league team. But when you’ve been where the Braves have been since early July, those numbers are like beams of light after an extended period of darkness.tmpplchld Not to mention, the past two wins came against the divisional rival the Braves (and others) don’t much care for, the Washington Nationals.tmpplchld Add to it the fact the Braves have seen significant improvement from a couple of rookie starting pitchers during the recent uptick, and it’s understandable why they are more upbeat as this difficult season winds down than they were a couple of weeks ago.tmpplchld One of those pitchers, Williams Perez, limited the Nationals to six hits in six scoreless innings of a 2-0 win on Wednesday night at Turner Field, which gave the Braves their third series win in their past four.tmpplchld They’ve scored two runs in every game during the five-game home winning streak, each of the other wins by 2-1 scores.tmpplchld Perez (7-6) had three walks and three strikeouts and moved to 3-0 with a 2.35 ERA in his past four starts. This after going 0-6 with a 9.50 ERA in his first seven starts back from a stint on the disabled list for a foot contusion.tmpplchld The Braves have won seven of their past 11 games after losing 48 of the previous 63. They’ve won five in a row at Turner Field after losing 14 of the previous 15.tmpplchld Opponents are 2-for-37 with runners in scoring position during the Braves’ five-game home winning streak, including 1-for-9 in six innings against Perez.tmpplchld Relievers Peter Moylan, Edwin Jackson and rookie closer Arodys Vizcaino worked a perfect inning apiece for the Braves, with Vizcaino recording his ninth save in 10 opportunities.tmpplchld The Braves have also won four consecutive home games against the Nationals. That gave the Braves their only two series wins in six this season against the Nationals, who still have a 13-5 lead in the season series entering the last game of the season between the teams Thursday.tmpplchld The Braves will close the season with a three-game home series against the Cardinals beginning Friday.tmpplchld To clinch this series against the Nationals, the Braves beat a pitcher who’s had his way with them throughout his career, right-hander Jordan Zimmermann. Before Wednesday, Zimmermann was 3-0 with a 1.86 ERA in four career starts at Turner Field, his best ERA at any ballpark where he’d pitched more than once.tmpplchld Zimmermann had been 7-2 with a 2.52 ERA in 15 overall starts against the Braves, including 3-0 with a 1.82 in five this season. But on Wednesday, the Braves took a quick 1-0 lead against him when Nick Markakis hit a two-out double in the first inning and scored on A.J. Pierzynski’s opposite-field single to shallow left.tmpplchld Pierzynski had two home runs in Tuesday’s 2-1 win in the series opener, and Matt Wisler _ the other of those improving Braves rookie pitchers _ worked seven strong innings.tmpplchld The Braves added a run in the second inning on another two-out single, this one by Michael Bourn. He drove in Andrelton Simmons, who led off the inning with a single and advanced on Perez’s sacrifice bunt.tmpplchld Staked to an early lead, Perez did what he’s become known for, consistently wiggling out of trouble. He’d given up a leadoff double in the first inning, then retired the next three batters.tmpplchld In the second inning, he allowed a leadoff single and walk to put two on with none out. No problem: He induced a double-play grounder from Wilson Ramos, then issued an intentional walk before retiring Zimmermann on a grounder.tmpplchld The Nationals also had runners on the corners with one out in the fifth inning before Perez struck out Anthony Rendon and got another inning-ending groundout.tmpplchld tmpplchld ___tmpplchld (c)2015 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Atlanta, Ga.)tmpplchld Visit The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Atlanta, Ga.) at www.ajc.comtmpplchld Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.tmpplchld