Saturday’s 8-3 defeat was the fourth in a row for Washington, which dropped to two games below .500 for the first time since May.
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ATLANTA — The Washington Nationals entered the weekend’s four-game series against the Braves with a chance to prove to their front office that they are ready to go for it this season.
Instead, through the first three games at Truist Park, including Saturday’s 8-3 loss, Washington has shown that might be a step too far. It was the Nationals’ fourth loss in a row, one short of matching their longest skid this year.
“I don’t know, that’s out of my hands,” Manager Blake Butera said when asked if there’s still a case for the Nationals to be buyers. “Right now, I’m just focused on getting these guys to play as well as we can.”
The players want to stay together. Yet with Monday’s trade deadline approaching fast, the Nationals are two games under .500 for the first time since May and falling further behind in the National League wild-card race.
They aren’t out of it, and the front office can still decide to add pieces at the deadline to help the team make a playoff push. But Washington is facing an uphill battle, which won’t get any easier once it leaves Atlanta.
“We are here, every single day, preparing our tails off to go out there and perform,” Dylan Crews said. “Whatever happens, happens. We can’t control that. Whatever happens, we’re going to go out there and perform and do our deal on our end and the front office and the guys up top are going to do their part.”
It’s not just the pitching to blame in Atlanta, although that hasn’t been great, either. Miles Mikolas allowed four runs in six innings Saturday, which was actually the best start of the series after rough outings by Foster Griffin and Jake Irvin.
The offense, which leads MLB in runs scored, is the larger culprit. The Nationals have gone 2 for 23 with runners in scoring position this series. On Saturday, they didn’t get a hit until the seventh inning and didn’t score until the eighth. They need to have a better plan at the plate, Butera said before Saturday’s game, and to talk through their approach more.
Whatever strategy they had intended to use Saturday went out the window 35 minutes before first pitch, when the Braves scratched scheduled starter Reynaldo López with left knee inflammation.
Martín Pérez, who was lined up for Sunday’s series finale, was on full rest and got the nod in López’s place. That sent the Nationals scrambling, swapping out their lineup to be better suited for a left-hander.
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There was no time to print out scouting reports or spend time studying Pérez on an iPad. Butera and the coaching staff did their best to track down individual players to go through what they could.
The retooled lineup didn’t reach base safely until the fourth inning, when Andrés Chaparro walked. It turned into a scoring opportunity thanks to a pair of miscues — Crews beat out a double play ball and advanced to second when first baseman Matt Olson couldn’t make the catch at first, and CJ Abrams reached on a fielding error by shortstop Jim Jarvis. But they were both stranded when Brady House struck out.
House finally broke up Pérez’s no-hit bid with two outs in the seventh, lining a single to right field. Jacob Young then worked an eight-pitch walk, but the Nationals again failed to capitalize as Nasim Nuñez lined out.
Pérez, who allowed just the one hit in seven scoreless innings, had his changeup working against both sides. The Nationals swung at the pitch 15 times and whiffed on nine of them.
“It was hard to recognize that off the fastball,” Butera said. “Predominantly to our righties, which we tried to stack in there against him, he had it working tonight.”
Washington needed a lot more than one hit to claw its way back into the game. Mikolas allowed back-to-back home runs from Ronald Acuña Jr. and Matt Olson in the first inning, then Drake Baldwin drove in a run with a single in the second to give the Braves a 3-0 lead. Dominic Smith’s solo shot in the fourth was the 26th homer Mikolas has allowed, tied for the most in the NL.
In the seventh, Riley Cornelio sandwiched two walks around an error by Abrams to load the bases with no one out. After retiring Michael Harris II and Ozzie Albies, Cornelio walked Dominic Smith on four pitches. Eddy Yean replaced him, bringing in one run on a wild pitch and two on a double from Austin Riley.
Down by eight, Washington finally got a little bit of offense going in the eighth. After James Wood walked and Chaparro was plunked, Crews doubled in Wood, and Abrams’s single drove home two more runs. But it wasn’t nearly enough to catch the Braves.
Now, with one game until the deadline, Sunday is their last chance not only to escape Atlanta with a win, but also potentially the last time players wear a Nationals uniform.
“Guys are frustrated,” Butera said. “This is the first time in a while that we’ve been in a spot where we’re chasing a playoff [berth]. These guys want to win. I’m sure they feel that. They are frustrated that we’re losing, and there’s nothing they want to do more than win some games right now.”
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