WASHINGTON -- Six-foot-five Jackson Tetreault was faced with a tall task in his Major League debut: start in place of an injured Stephen Strasburg against the hot-hitting defending World Series champion Braves, who entered Tuesday on a 12-game winning streak.

¡°I¡¯m up for the challenge,¡± Tetreault said following the Nats¡¯ 10-4 loss at Nationals Park. ¡°You want to face the best when you¡¯re here, and that comes with the territory when you face a lineup like that. ¡­ I¡¯m not going to shy away from strong lineups. You want to face those guys and learn and get better. I think that¡¯s what happened tonight.¡±

The Nationals called up Tetreault from Triple-A Rochester when Strasburg was placed on the 15-day injured list with a stress reaction of the ribs. Tetreault had compiled a 5-3 record with a 4.19 ERA over 12 starts with the Red Wings, and he was on full rest.

Tetreault, who described the debut as a ¡°super wild and crazy experience,¡± allowed nine hits, seven runs, one walk and three homers while also fanning two across four innings. Of his 91 pitches (55 strikes), he went fastball-heavy (55 pitches) and mixed in his cutter (27) and curveball (9). His four-seamer topped at 97.9 mph and averaged 94.7 mph.

¡°He¡¯s got good stuff, he really does,¡± manager Dave Martinez said. ¡°I think he was a little bit amped up. He came out throwing really hard, but he was a little bit erratic. ¡­ I think the next outing will be much better because I think he¡¯ll settle down a little bit. His heartbeat was elevated, but that¡¯s to be expected.¡±

Tetreault didn¡¯t hold back in the first matchup of his big league career. He struck out leadoff hitter Ronald Acu?a Jr. swinging with a 97.4 mph fastball in a six-pitch at-bat. Tetreault would later fan Acu?a again to end the third.

¡°It¡¯s a big confidence booster,¡± the 26-year-old said of his first strikeout. ¡°When you¡¯re able to punch a guy out, like someone of his caliber, it¡¯s a huge confidence boost. Especially to start the game, it¡¯s like a weight off and like, ¡®All right, I belong here.¡¯ It was cool. To get him a couple times felt good.¡±

Just as quickly, Tetreault was introduced to the Braves¡¯ dominant offense when Dansby Swanson belted an 87.5 mph cutter -- the seventh pitch of the at-bat -- to left-center field. After surrendering one run on an Orlando Arcia sacrifice fly in the second inning, Tetreault was on the receiving end of back-to-back homers by Travis d¡¯Arnaud and Marcell Ozuna in the third.

¡°Even though it was my first outing in the big leagues, pitching through the Minor Leagues for a while, you give up home runs,¡± Tetreault said. ¡°A home run is a home run, and you learn to shrug it off and attack the next guy. ¡­ You¡¯ve got to keep fighting for the team, and you can¡¯t get rattled.¡±

Tetreault locked in to conclude his debut outing with a 1-2-3 fourth inning. He retired Swanson, Austin Riley and Matt Olson with a groundout and a pair of flyouts, respectively, to walk off the field having quieted his opponent.

¡°Early on, I fell behind quite a bit and got into some fastball counts, got into some predictable counts and they took advantage. A good lineup like that is going to do that, so it¡¯s important to get ahead, attack early on in the zone,¡± Tetreault said. ¡°I think the last inning there, I was able to do more of that. ¡­ Attacking the middle part of the zone early in the count, instead of trying to hit a corner and then falling behind. I think that was probably the key.¡±

Martinez noted an important area of progress as the game went on. He found a dip in Tetreault¡¯s velocity to actually show a sign of improvement.

¡°He comes out of the fourth inning, you don¡¯t see the 97's. You see the 92¡¯s, 93¡¯s, but he¡¯s throwing strikes,¡± Martinez said. ¡°That was an example that I gave him -- I said, ¡®It¡¯s not necessarily how hard you throw, it¡¯s where you throw the ball. You made some good pitches, didn¡¯t throw as hard, but you got outs. So this is something you need to remember as well.'¡±

Tetreault has been in the Nationals organization since the team selected him in the seventh round of the 2017 MLB Draft. This season, he led the Nationals¡¯ Minor Leaguers in frames (58) and starts, recorded the second-most wins (5) and strikeouts (52) and ranked third in ERA and opponents¡¯ batting average (.231).

¡°I¡¯ve always been confident in myself in thinking that I would get here one day,¡± Tetreault said. ¡°I¡¯m grateful that I did. I¡¯m looking forward to making a career out of this and working hard.¡±