Braves Briefing: Bryce Elder looked human on Sunday

Atlanta's win streak came to an end on Sunday.

Bryce Elder, a major bright spot in Atlanta's rotation this season, saw his impressive streak of starts came to an end. 

Despite his previous successes, Elder struggled as he allowed five runs on eight hits and a single walk over 5.1 innings. His lone strikeout wasn't enough to prevent him from being pulled from the game during the sixth inning. 

The turn of events occurred when Elder surrendered a double to Luis Garcia, followed by a wild pitch that allowed Garcia to advance to third. A subsequent single and a powerful homer by Jeimer Candelario gave Washington a 4-2 lead. Kirby Yates replaced Elder after he conceded a single to Keibert Ruiz, but Yates couldn't prevent Dominic Smith from launching an enormous 444-foot home run to right-center field, the longest of Smith's career. Washington ultimately secured a 6-2 victory, tallying six runs on nine hits while maintaining a solid 2-3 performance with runners in scoring position and leaving only three stranded.

Despite being unable to pick up the sweep against the Washington Nationals, Atlanta did win two of three against the NL East foe.

NL East Standings

Team	Record	GB	Action Today
Atlanta	40-25	-	@ Detroit
Miami	37-29	3.5	@ Seattle
Philadelphia	32-33	8.0	@ Arizona
NYM	31-35	9.5	Hosts NYY
Washington	26-38	13.5	@ Houston

We wrote it

Braves Today's Lindsay Crosby handled our coverage of Sunday's action against the Nationals. Despite the loss, he highlighted Atlanta's ability to strike quickly.

Stop me if you've heard this before, but Atlanta scored in the first inning.
Ronald Acuña Jr laced the first pitch he saw for a single - why opposing pitchers continue throwing him first-pitch strikes is beyond me - giving Matt Olson a baserunner.
With Nationals RHP Trevor Williams preoccupied about Ronald potentially stealing, he made a mistake on a fastball, leaving the 89.8 mph four-seamer on the inner third, belt high, and Olson did not miss it. 
The bomb went 421 feet, landing on top of the ChopHouse in right field, and Atlanta had a two-run lead within the first five pitches of the game. 

Watch the recap of Atlanta vs Washington

What's next for the Atlanta Braves

Atlanta travels to Detroit for a quick three game set - first pitch for Monday's series opener is at 6:40 PM ET, with Charlie Morton on the hill for Atlanta and Detroit going with a bullpen game. The game broadcast, with Voice of the Braves Brandon Gaudin, is available inside Braves Country on Bally Sports South and is available on MLB.TV outside of the broadcast area. The radio call, with Ben Ingram, is available locally on 680 AM/93.7 FM The Fan or outside the Atlanta market on the Atlanta Braves Radio Network or MLB.com.

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