Pierzynski powers Braves, Wisler to 2-1 win over Nationals

ATLANTA _ Braves rookie pitcher Matt Wisler was 1-year-old when A.J. Pierzysnki was drafted by the Minnesota Twins in June 1994. Tuesday night, Pierzynski’s two home runs and steadying influence behind the plate helped Wisler notch his seventh major league win.tmpplchld Pierzynski hit go-ahead home runs in the fourth and seventh innings, and Wisler pitched seven strong innings in a 2-1 series-opening win against the Washington Nationals, a win that assures the Braves won’t lose 100 games.tmpplchld The Braves won their fourth consecutive home game after losing 14 of the previous 15. They snapped a four-game skid against the Nationals and beat their National League East rival for just the fourth time in 17 games this season.tmpplchld Arodys Vizcaino worked around two singles to start the ninth inning and recorded his eighth save.tmpplchld Pierzysnki homered twice off starter Tanner Roark for the veteran’s sixth multi-homer game and first since June 29, 2012. The 38-year-old catcher went 3-for-3 and has a .299 average with nine homers and 47 RBIs this season, after batting .251 with five homers and 37 RBIs in 2014 for Boston and St. Louis.tmpplchld Wisler (7-8) gave up five hits, one run and two walks with four strikeouts in seven innings, and left after a leadoff single in the eighth. Edwin Jackson relieved him and issued a one-out walk to Trea Turner before inducing an inning-ending double play grounder by Bryce Harper, to the delight of an announced crowd of 15,272 (that was the tickets-sold figure; there were perhaps half that many tickets used).tmpplchld Turner hit a game-tying leadoff homer on the first pitch of the sixth inning, the first of his major league career. Wisler then struck out Harper and Jayson Werth consecutively and recorded six outs in the next six batters, including Wilson Ramos’ inning-ending double play grounder in the seventh.tmpplchld The Braves are 63-94 with five games left in the season, two against the Nationals and three against National League Central leader St. Louis. Wisler should get one more start Sunday in the season finale against the Cardinals.tmpplchld Before Tuesday’s game, manager Fredi Gonzalez pointed to the progress of some young players as bright spots in what’s been a lousy overall season for the rebuilding Braves. One of those he cited was Wisler, who has bounced back from a woeful midseason stretch to have three impressive outings in his past four starts.tmpplchld The rookie right-hander was 0-5 with a 9.49 ERA in seven starts from Aug. 1 to Sept. 3, the last start in that slump a loss at Washington in which he gave up five hits, seven runs and three walks in just 1 2/3 innings.tmpplchld The Braves stuck him in the bullpen three days later in the finale of that four-game series at Nationals Park, and Wisler responded with two hitless, scoreless innings. Moved back to the rotation five days later, he has gone 2-2 with a 3.12 ERA in his past four starts, including three starts where he allowed two runs or fewer in six innings or more.tmpplchld In his past two starts, on the road against the New York Mets and Tuesday against the Nationals, Wisler is 2-0 with 10 hits and three runs allowed in 14 innings.tmpplchld Wisler turned 23 this month and Pierzysnki will be 39 in December.tmpplchld Pierzynski gave the Braves a 1-0 lead with his two-out homer in the fourth inning, and provided a 2-1 lead with his leadoff homer in the sixth. He hadn’t homered since Aug. 3, but if his homer pace had slowed his overall hitting rate had not. He’s hit .340 (69-for-203) with 15 extra-base hits in 57 games since July 4.tmpplchld Braves third baseman Hector Olivera left the game after being struck in the left arm by a pitch in the fifth inning. The ball appeared to hit him high on the hard-plastic elbow guard he wears, but Olivera was attended to for a minute or two and was replaced by pinch-runner Jace Peterson.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