Washington lost its fifth straight game, falling to three games under .500 for the first time in nearly three months.
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ATLANTA — On Sunday afternoon, after the Washington Nationals fell to the Atlanta Braves, 4-2, to seal a four-game sweep, Luis García Jr. made his way through the clubhouse, handing out hugs and packing his belongings.
He had not been traded yet — that would come an hour later, when the New York Yankees acquired him for a package of four pitchers, a person with knowledge of the deal told The Washington Post on the condition of anonymity because it was not yet official.
The Nationals knew before the game that a deal was close. They scratched García 30 minutes before first pitch and kept him on the bench even when Andrés Chaparro left the game after being hit by a pitch. Brady House took over at first base, his first major league appearance at that position.
García said he told Blake Butera he could go in the game after Chaparro was injured, but Washington’s manager had been told not to play him. A potential injury could have diminished García’s value or even killed a deal.
“It was weird, uncomfortable, going out to the dugout and having your teammates look at you,” García said through a team interpreter.
The five-game losing streak is tied for the Nationals’ longest of the season and puts them three games under .500 for the first time in nearly three months. The players, Cade Cavalli said, told each other to ignore the buzz of the deadline and just play their game, even as their teammates’ futures were hanging in the balance.
“I think the best way is to stay present,” said Cavalli, who took the loss Sunday despite a solid start. “I think you do yourself a disservice if you allow your mind to go to those places. At the end of the day, that’s out of our control.”
It’s hard to avoid, though, even if they tried. On Sunday morning, all three televisions were turned to MLB Network, and the loudspeakers blasted the audio of the commentators debating potential moves, including ones that involved players in Washington’s clubhouse.
The TVs stayed on, Butera said before the game, because players need to learn how to handle the outside noise that comes with being a professional athlete.
“That’s part of the industry they’re in,” Butera said. “At the end of the day, if you try to shut that off and pretend like that’s not out there, I think it just brings up a little bit more of, ‘Why are you doing this? Is there something you know that we don’t know?’ Let’s leave everything out there. We’ll be as transparent as possible and just go about our business the way we expect to every single day.”
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In Sunday’s loss, Cavalli pitched six innings, allowing two earned runs, both of which came on solo homers. Mike Yastrzemski hit one in the third inning, putting the Braves on the board first. The Nationals responded in the fourth, loading the bases with one out and tying the game when JR Ritchie’s curveball struck Chaparro in the head. He remained in the game initially but felt dizzy later and was removed in the fifth.
James Wood tacked on a sacrifice fly in the fourth to make it 2-1, but Matt Olson responded right away for the Braves, leading off the bottom half with a solo shot.
Atlanta took the lead for good in the fifth. Austin Riley doubled, and Jim Jarvis hit a grounder to CJ Abrams, who threw too high for House to snag. The ball rolled toward the Braves dugout, allowing Riley to score.
Orlando Ribalta allowed another unearned run in the seventh following his own errant throw. Washington’s 88 errors are the most in the majors by a wide margin.
With the Nationals’ offense remaining largely lifeless — they didn’t record a hit after the fourth inning and finished 1 for 6 with runners in scoring position — those miscues were all the Braves needed.
“You hate getting swept,” Cavalli said. “It’s frustrating, but we have 49 games left, and we have to move on and go compete. You never know what can happen in those 49.”
Now, as the Nationals head to Philadelphia for a four-game series, they do so without their longest-tenured player. There could be more deals coming before Monday’s 6 p.m. deadline, with Foster Griffin also drawing interest.
Trading García signals that the team is selling. But the Nationals, Abrams said, aren’t giving up.
“We want to win as many as we can,” Abrams said. “This week didn’t go as we planned, but next week can.”
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