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 Acuña Jr. swinging with a 97.4 mph fastball in a six-pitch at-bat. Tetreault would later fan Acuña 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.”