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Prado returns with HR, Braves beat Nats, 11-1
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Atlanta Braves' Martin Prado is greeted at the dugout after hitting a home run in the sixth inning of Friday's game against the Washington Nationals in Atlanta. Prado was playing in his first game since returning from the disabled list. - photo by Associated Press

ATLANTA - Martin Prado had two hits, including a homer, in his return from five weeks on the disabled list and the Braves beat the error-prone Washington Nationals 11-1 on Friday night for the 10,000th win in franchise history.

The Braves reached the milestone, having played in Boston, Milwaukee and Atlanta.

Tim Hudson (9-6) gave up one run on seven hits in seven innings and had two hits. He has won four straight decisions.

Freddie Freeman drove in three runs with two hits, including a two-run double in the seventh.

First baseman Michael Morse had only one error for the season before committing two - one fielding, one throwing - on leadoff hitter Jordan Schafer's grounder in the first to set the pace for the Nationals' fielding woes. Morse had three of the team's five errors.

Prado, who had been out since June 8 with a staph infection in his right calf, hit only .192 (5 of 26) in eight minor league rehab games. Even so, he said before the game he was confident in his hitting.

"My hitting is not there yet, but I've been working way too hard not to see results someday," Prado said.

After hitting flyballs in his first two at-bats, Prado led off the fourth with his ninth homer and added a run-scoring single in the sixth.

Livan Hernandez (5-9) gave up six runs, three earned, on eight hits and a walk in four innings.

Hernandez was hurt by poor defense in Atlanta's four-run first inning. Morse bobbled Schafer's grounder and then made a wild throw, allowing Schafer to move to second.
After Jason Heyward walked, Freeman drove in Schafer with a single. Heyward scored on Dan Uggla's double past third baseman Ryan Zimmerman. Shortstop Ian Desmond bobbled a grounder by David Ross, allowing Freeman to score, before Nate McLouth added a run-scoring single.

Ross hit a ground-rule double and scored on Hudson's two-out single in the third. Prado's homer in the fourth pushed the lead to 6-1.

The Braves sent nine batters to the plate in the first and sixth innings. They scored three in the sixth, including RBI singles by Prado and Heyward. Ryan Zimmerman couldn't handle Uggla's grounder off Ross Detwiler for Washington's fifth error, allowing Prado to score.

Braves right-hander Scott Linebrink struck out Wilson

Ramos with the bases loaded to end the eighth.

NOTES: Nationals GM Mike Rizzo said RHP Stephen Strasburg, recovering from elbow surgery, "could get a major league start in September." Strasburg had his surgery on Sept. 3, 2010. ... The Braves signed LHP Sean Gilmartin, the team's first-round pick from Florida State, for a bonus of $1,134,000. ... The Braves optioned INF Brandon Hicks to Triple-A Gwinnett. ... The Nationals also committed five errors on June 28 at the Angels. ... The Braves trail only the Giants (10,489) and Cubs (10,277) in wins in the major leagues, according to information provided to the team by the Elias Sports Bureau. The Braves franchise began in Boston in 1876.

 

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