The best thing the Washington Nationals can hope for as they wrap up the 2026 season is for their core to finish strong. That includes CJ Abrams, who for most of the second half has slogged through minor injuries and a position change.
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On Sunday, even as the Nationals fell, 5-3, to the St. Louis Cardinals following their 42nd blown save of the season, Abrams looked like the caliber of player who started in the All-Star Game just two months ago. He came through with his bat and made two highlight-worthy diving plays at second base to complete one of his best all-around games of the past two-plus months.
The bullpen soured what could have been a series sweep, but the Nationals still head to Detroit with a series win after taking Friday and Saturday’s games.
“I thought we should have won all three games,” Manager Blake Butera told reporters. “You leave winning two, and you should feel good about it, but it doesn’t feel good because I felt like we should have won all three.”
Washington’s starting pitching set the standard in St. Louis. On Friday, after agreeing to a four-year extension, Cade Cavalli pitched five scoreless innings and cemented a 200-strikeout season in a 9-1 win. A day later, Andrew Alvarez followed with six scoreless innings, lowering his ERA to 3.17 on the season and 2.15 since Aug. 3, when he became a staple of the rotation. And in the finale, Jake Irvin struck out eight batters in 5⅓ innings of two-run ball.
“We had a chance to win all three of these, and that starts with our starters this series,” Butera told reporters. “Irv did a great job as well, giving us a really solid outing.”
On Sunday, Irvin gave up a solo home run to Iván Herrera in the first inning. Irvin has struggled at the start of games this season, so much so that the Nationals used an opener in front of him in his last outing, but he was able to escape without any additional damage.
The Nationals tied it up in the second inning on a Jacob Young sacrifice fly, but the Cardinals responded in the third. José Fermín hit a double, then advanced on a wild pitch and scored on a single from JJ Wetherholt.
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St. Louis held on to its 2-1 advantage until the sixth inning, when Brady House led off with a single. That set up Abrams, who hit a slider from starter Quinn Mathews several rows deep in right field.
It was just the second homer since mid-August for Abrams. On paper, this season is still a success for him. With 31 home runs and 33 stolen bases, he became just the second National to earn a spot in the 30-30 club. He also has career highs in RBI (99) and walks (54) and is on track to have the highest batting average, on-base percentage and slugging percentage of his career.
But still, the second half hasn’t gone the way Abrams or Washington would have hoped. Physical ailments added up — a rolled ankle, back tightness and neck tightness all held him out for a few games at a time. He also switched from shortstop, his primary position throughout his career, to second base, where the Nationals expect him to split time moving forward. He’s hitting .238 since the all-star break, compared with .275 before.
Still, Sunday’s left-on-left long ball extended Abrams’s hitting streak to seven games. He’s 9 for 30 with five extra-base hits and five stolen bases during that stretch, reminiscent of the star the Nationals saw earlier this season.
And Abrams certainly looked comfortable at the keystone. In the fourth inning, he ranged to his right, laid out to cut off a 110-mph groundball from Jordan Walker and fired a one-hop throw to Andrés Chaparro. In the fifth, he went left, diving onto the outfield grass to take a hit away from JJ Wetherholt. And he closed out the sixth by making a quick throw on a high chopper to get Walker again.
Abrams could have been the hero Sunday, but Herrera crushed a hanging fastball from Erik Tolman 439 feet to left-center, tying the game in the eighth inning. After Yovanny Cruz relieved Tolman with two outs, Walker drew a walk, and Leo Bernal’s two-run homer secured another loss at the hands of the bullpen for the Nationals.
“Look, it hurts,” Butera told reporters. “Fastball down the middle of the plate to Herrera, and he hits it out. Ideally when Yovanny comes in, he’s coming in to get Walker, and ideally he doesn’t walk him there. Once you do, gave up a two-run shot. It is what it is.”
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