{"id":1495,"date":"2026-05-25T07:34:13","date_gmt":"2026-05-25T07:34:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=1495"},"modified":"2026-05-25T07:34:13","modified_gmt":"2026-05-25T07:34:13","slug":"in-atlanta-strong-pitching-lifts-nationals-to-series-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=1495","title":{"rendered":"In Atlanta, strong pitching lifts Nationals to series win"},"content":{"rendered":"

Washington ends a two-year drought at the Braves\u2019 Truist Park behind 16 scoreless innings from its rotation.<\/strong><\/p>

Read more Pirates bullpen makes deal, hands over signed bat in swap for rookie outfielder\u2019s first HR ball<\/a><\/p>\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n
Orlando Ribalta was the hero in Sunday’s rubber match for the Nationals, helping seal a series win. (Brett Davis\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

It\u2019s been nearly two years since the Washington Nationals have marched into Truist Park and exited the Atlanta Braves\u2019 stadium with a series win.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s been far longer since a Nationals team has played as well as this group has. They\u2019ve embodied the underdog mentality. They like to ask, \u201cWhy not us?\u201d when people question where their confidence comes from. And this weekend, they backed up that confidence by taking two out of three from the National League-leading Braves, including a tense 2-1 victory in Sunday\u2019s rain-filled rubber match.<\/p>\n

The Nationals were in every game and had a chance to walk away with the sweep, but the bullpen faltered in extra innings Friday. Washington (27-27) still walks away from the series back at .500 and with another confidence boost as the team heads north for three games against the Cleveland Guardians.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are just trying to prove everyone wrong,\u201d reliever Orlando Ribalta said on the Nationals\u2019 television broadcast Sunday. \u201cWe have a great team, we are very united as a group and we are trying to go out there and win every time and make sure we come out victorious like we did this series.\u201d<\/p>\n

For most of the season, the Nationals\u2019 offense has led the way. That group did its job in Atlanta, albeit just enough. On Saturday, Dylan Crews and Jorbit Vivas homered. On Sunday, Nasim Nu\u00f1ez gave Washington the lead with a fifth-inning RBI single. In the eighth, James Wood walked, stole second, advanced to third on a flyball from Curtis Mead and scored on a hit by Luis Garc\u00eda Jr.<\/p>\n

But this series win was possible because of a standout performance from the Nationals\u2019 rotation, which put up a combined 16 scoreless innings against the second-highest-scoring offense in the majors. In Friday\u2019s 5-4 extra-innings loss, Miles Mikolas followed an opener and scattered three hits across five innings. A day later, Jake Irvin threw five no-hit innings before leaving with an injury in a 2-0 win.<\/p>\n

In the finale, Foster Griffin gave the Nationals six innings. He danced around the edges of the strike zone, his cutter especially lethal as he escaped a bases-loaded jam in the fourth without any damage. The Braves finished with three hits and one walk against the left-hander, who struck out six.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody who took the ball this weekend, I couldn\u2019t be happier with,\u201d Manager Blake Butera told reporters. \u201cThey all did just an outstanding job from start to finish.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n
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The Nationals and Braves played through rain for a few innings, but the game was delayed in the seventh. (Mike Stewart\/Ap Photo\/Mike Stewart)<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

It\u2019s possible Griffin could have gone a batter or two into the seventh inning \u2014 he was at 90 pitches and has gone as high as 103 this season \u2014 but he didn\u2019t get the chance, through no fault of his own.<\/p>

Read more Daniel Suarez wins the rain-shortened Coca-Cola 600 after NASCAR honors the late Kyle Busch<\/a><\/p>\n

The game began more than 20 minutes late because of a threat of storms in the area. No precipitation fell during that delay, but the rain would arrive in the bottom of the fourth, with thunder making an appearance in the bottom of the sixth. Griffin rubbed his hands on his pants and reached for the rosin bag in between every pitch to try to maintain any semblance of a grip. Infielders planted their feet carefully on the soaked turf as they went after grounders.<\/p>\n

The umpires attempted to keep the game going into the seventh, but it lasted just two pitches before the game was sent to a delay. By this point, the field was soaked through, making it difficult for the grounds crew to get the tarp on. The game resumed after 1 hour 28 minutes, with both pitchers now out of the game.<\/p>\n

Andrew Alvarez replaced Griffin for the bottom of the seventh, throwing a scoreless frame and recording an out in the eighth. Gus Varland closed out the inning before the drama began in the ninth.<\/p>\n

Ozzie Albies and Austin Riley led off with singles, and for the third day in a row, Richard Lovelady was sent to the mound. He got one out right away as Crews caught a flyball from Michael Harris II that wasn\u2019t deep enough to tag up on. Eli White followed with a sharp grounder that Nu\u00f1ez wasn\u2019t able to field on the drenched dirt. One run scored on the error, and Lovelady then walked Ha-Seong Kim to load the bases.<\/p>\n

That was enough for Lovelady. Butera replaced him with Ribalta, who two days earlier blew a save in the 10th inning. This time, though, the right-hander was sharp, striking out Chadwick Tromp and inducing a weak groundball from Ronald Acu\u00f1a Jr. to secure the Nationals\u2019 first series win in Atlanta since May 27-30, 2024.<\/p>\n

\u201cLuckily we had a lot of our good bullpen arms available today,\u201d Butera said. \u201cTrying to navigate that lineup is never easy, especially when there\u2019s not really a pocket of same-handed batters in a row. I thought all of our guys came in and did a nice job.\u201d<\/p>\n

Note: <\/b>Irvin was put on the 15-day injured list before Sunday\u2019s game with a right shoulder strain. He attempted to warm up for the sixth inning Saturday before exiting with a trainer. He told reporters that the diagnosis was \u201cbest case scenario\u201d and that he expects to resume throwing in a few days.<\/p>\n

Reliever PJ Poulin was recalled from Class AAA Rochester as the corresponding move. Poulin, optioned May 16, was able to return after only eight days because he is replacing an injured player.<\/p>\n

With an off day Thursday, the Nationals could skip Irvin\u2019s spot in the rotation. Or Alvarez, who threw only 18 pitches Sunday and has started seven games at Rochester this year, could fill in.<\/p>

Read more Avalanche get defenseman Cale Makar back, survive scare with Nathan MacKinnon, and still lose Game 3<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Washington ends a two-year drought at the Braves\u2019 Truist Park behind 16 scoreless innings from its rotation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1492,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1495","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"\nIn Atlanta, strong pitching lifts Nationals to series win - Moving Insider USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=1495\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"In Atlanta, strong pitching lifts Nationals to series win - Moving Insider USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Washington ends a two-year drought at the Braves\u2019 Truist Park behind 16 scoreless innings from its rotation.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=1495\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Moving Insider USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-25T07:34:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/b16fb23a217268a0303dd3a35f35d7bb-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1707\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=1495#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=1495\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03\"},\"headline\":\"In Atlanta, strong pitching lifts Nationals to series win\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-25T07:34:13+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=1495\"},\"wordCount\":1060,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=1495#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/400ff7eda2a416396dc0c8678d149f2f-scaled.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Interesting\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=1495#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=1495\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=1495\",\"name\":\"In Atlanta, strong pitching lifts Nationals to series win - Moving Insider USA\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=1495#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=1495#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/400ff7eda2a416396dc0c8678d149f2f-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-25T07:34:13+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=1495#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=1495\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=1495#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/400ff7eda2a416396dc0c8678d149f2f-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/400ff7eda2a416396dc0c8678d149f2f-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1707,\"caption\":\"ATLANTA, GEORGIA - MAY 24: Orlando Ribalta #64 of the Washington Nationals enters a game against the Atlanta Braves in the ninth inning at Truist Park on May 24, 2026 in Atlanta, Georgia. 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