{"id":1881,"date":"2026-05-28T08:34:56","date_gmt":"2026-05-28T08:34:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=1881"},"modified":"2026-05-28T08:34:56","modified_gmt":"2026-05-28T08:34:56","slug":"nationals-end-road-trip-with-a-narrow-loss-but-plenty-of-belief","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=1881","title":{"rendered":"Nationals end road trip with a narrow loss but plenty of belief"},"content":{"rendered":"

Washington falls in Cleveland but heads home with series victories over first-place Braves and Guardians.<\/strong><\/p>

Read more Jayden Daniels, sturdy and determined, delivers at Commanders\u2019 first spring practice<\/a><\/p>\n

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CJ Abrams steals second base as Guardians shortstop Brayan Rocchio can’t haul in the throw in the ninth inning. (David Dermer\/IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect)<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

CLEVELAND \u2014 It wasn\u2019t the impeccable ending to the road trip the Washington Nationals were hoping for. With the sweep of the Cleveland Guardians within their grasp, the Nationals dropped the series finale Wednesday, 3-2, and ended the trip 4-2.<\/p>\n

But while things didn\u2019t end on a high note, it was, by most measures, still a success. They won back-to-back series against division leaders, first taking two of three from the Atlanta Braves and then doing the same against the Guardians. The Nationals got to one game above .500 on Monday, their first time above that mark since March, and then reached two games above .500 on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

After Wednesday\u2019s loss, the Nationals sit at 29-28 as they head home to open a three-game series against the San Diego Padres on Friday.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese guys just keep believing,\u201d Manager Blake Butera said. \u201cThey believe in one another, they believe in their teammates. At the end of the day, look, we can go out and play the way we have these last six games on the road and in tough places to play, you have to feel good about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The same offense that on Tuesday became the first in Major League Baseball to score 300 runs went quiet for most of Wednesday, despite opening the scoring in the third inning on a double from CJ Abrams. They got away from their approach in the middle innings, Butera said, and weren\u2019t able to break through against Guardians starter Gavin Williams, who allowed just one run on three hits in seven innings.<\/p>\n

Washington\u2019s pitching and defense have looked much improved on this swing, but both faltered in the fifth.<\/p>\n

After Curtis Mead was unable to field a grounder from Austin Hedges, Travis Bazzana doubled and Jose Ram\u00edrez hit a sacrifice fly to score Hedges and tie the game. That ended Miles Mikolas\u2019s day after 3\u2154 innings as the Nationals\u2019 second pitcher. Richard Lovelady then gave up three singles in a row as the Guardians took a 3-1 lead.<\/p>

Read more Paris Saint-Germain on the brink of greatness in the Champions League<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cHe [Lovelady] made some good pitches, there was some soft contact that just seemed to be hit in the perfect spots,\u201d Butera said. \u201cHe\u2019s been so good for us this year, and I know this one little blunder, he will move through it, and he\u2019ll be fine next time.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Nationals had a chance in the ninth, with Mead singling then advancing to third on an Abrams groundball and scoring on a sacrifice fly by Daylen Lile. But that\u2019s all they would muster, as Jos\u00e9 Tena and Jorbit Vivas struck out to end the game.<\/p>\n

Staying in the game until the end may not count for much, but it does give the Nationals confidence they can contend even on days when they aren\u2019t playing their best. The Nationals did so in both of their losses on this trip, battling with the Braves in extras in Friday\u2019s 11-inning, 5-4 loss and falling short of a ninth-inning comeback Wednesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s the nitty-gritty, play-this-game-to-win kind of attitude that I think everybody in this locker room has,\u201d Mikolas said. \u201cPlayers, coaching staff, everybody top to bottom, we have a chance to win a game, we\u2019re going to go out and get it. … I think you put a lot of pressure on teams knowing they can\u2019t just put you away and kind of forget about you those last seven, eight, nine innings.\u201d<\/p>\n

Coming close is just the first step.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a good road trip, we got the job done,\u201d Abrams said. \u201cCould have easily went 6-0, but a couple of those two games didn\u2019t go the way we wanted. Good road trip, take that home.\u201d<\/p>\n

Note: <\/b>Left-handed pitcher Andrew Alvarez will start for the Nationals on Friday in place of Jake Irvin, who was put on the injured list Sunday with a right shoulder strain. Alvarez has been used in bulk out of the bullpen this season, pitching to a 2.84 ERA in 12\u2154 innings.<\/p>\n

PJ Poulin, who pitched a scoreless first inning on Wednesday, was optioned to Class AAA Rochester after the game. He has a 3.42 ERA in 23\u2154 innings. The move will allow the Nationals to bring up a fresh pitcher to replace Alvarez in the bullpen.<\/p>

Read more Ohtani fumes through 6 no-hit innings as two-way superstar battles command<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Washington falls in Cleveland but heads home with series victories over first-place Braves and Guardians.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1879,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1881","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"\nNationals end road trip with a narrow loss but plenty of belief - 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=1881\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Nationals end road trip with a narrow loss but plenty of belief - Moving Insider USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Washington falls in Cleveland but heads home with series victories over first-place Braves and Guardians.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=1881\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Moving Insider USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-28T08:34:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/0c4023719d2b0d6f4fe82db319ba0a32-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=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=1881#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=1881\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03\"},\"headline\":\"Nationals end road trip with a narrow loss but plenty of belief\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-28T08:34:56+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=1881\"},\"wordCount\":800,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=1881#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/79165e18f126ce16471704e2fd1ad7ec-scaled.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Interesting\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=1881#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=1881\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=1881\",\"name\":\"Nationals end road trip with a narrow loss but plenty of belief - 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