{"id":7228,"date":"2026-07-13T05:34:48","date_gmt":"2026-07-13T05:34:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=7228"},"modified":"2026-07-13T05:34:48","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T05:34:48","slug":"nationals-cant-hold-on-and-are-swept-by-yankees-to-enter-all-star-break-below-500","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=7228","title":{"rendered":"Nationals can\u2019t hold on and are swept by Yankees to enter all-star break below .500"},"content":{"rendered":"

Washington had been at or above .500 since June 6.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n
A mistimed jump by Dylan Crews led to the go-ahead runs for the Yankees. (Scott Taetsch\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

For the third game in a row, the Washington Nationals tried a different strategy in the late innings against the New York Yankees. And for the third game in a row, they couldn\u2019t hold on to a late lead, stumbling to a 5-3 loss Sunday to seal a series sweep.<\/p>

Read more Shakira Austin scores 10 of her 27 points in the 4th quarter as the Mystics beat the Storm<\/a><\/p>\n

On Friday, the Nationals relied on traditional platoon splits, putting in a struggling southpaw to face a glut of left-handed hitters. On Saturday, they threw out their two best available arms. Neither approach worked, and Washington dropped both games.<\/p>\n

So in the series finale, the Nationals tried ditching the bullpen altogether and stacked starter Andrew Alvarez \u2014 who last pitched Tuesday \u2014 on top of Cade Cavalli. This approach also failed, and Washington still had to use a reliever to finish the game anyway.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s frustrating,\u201d Manager Blake Butera said. \u201cDisappointing. Same feelings everyone else has watching that game.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Nationals, who had been at or above .500 since June 6, head into the all-star break 48-49. It\u2019s still a far better first half than in any of the previous five seasons, but they have higher expectations for themselves. And their record would be even better without nine losses when they led after seven innings.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to win every game,\u201d Butera said. \u201cThere were a lot of games we should have won up to this point. The record is what the record is. At the end of the day, we are just focused on trying to win every single game.\u201d<\/p>\n

James Wood, one of three Nationals who were selected to the All-Star Game, hit a leadoff home run for the second day in a row. It was his 10th of the year, breaking the Nationals\u2019 single-season record in just the 97th game. He heads into the break with 28 long balls, just three shy of last year\u2019s career high of 31.<\/p>\n

Cade Cavalli made his first start after serving a five-game suspension for his actions in a benches-clearing brawl in Boston on June 30. He held the 1-0 lead until the fifth inning, when a Cody Bellinger double and a Jazz Chisholm Jr. single tied the game. Chisholm advanced to second on a wild pitch and scored on a single from Austin Wells to make it 2-1 Yankees.<\/p>\n

Still, it was a strong six-inning start from Cavalli, who struck out five and walked just one. He heads into the break with a 3.83 ERA.<\/p>\n

In the sixth, Curtis Mead joined Wood in going deep for the second straight day. His pinch-hit homer off reliever Tim Hill tied it back up, and the Nationals took the lead back in the seventh. Nasim Nu\u00f1ez, pinch-running for Jos\u00e9 Tena at first base, stole second and scored when Keibert Ruiz reached on an errant throw from Chisholm.<\/p>\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n
The Nationals couldn’t capitalize on a solid start by Cade Cavalli. (Jamie Sabau\/Imagn Images)<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

Alvarez took over to start the seventh and retired the first five batters he faced. With two outs in the eighth, Max Schuemann singled and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Alvarez walked Trent Grisham, then got to two strikes on Ben Rice before leaving a curveball over the middle.<\/p>

Read more NASCAR Cup Series race in Atlanta resumes following weather delay longer than 3 hours<\/a><\/p>\n

The first baseman, who is in the MVP conversation, sent a deep flyball to Dylan Crews, who started in place of Jacob Young as the Nationals\u2019 typical center fielder nurses a hand injury. Crews mistimed his jump and ran into the wall, and the ball bounced away. Rice ended up on third with a triple, driving in Schuemann and Grisham to give the Yankees a 4-3 lead.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to know where you are at all times,\u201d Crews said. \u201cI thought I had it. I thought I knew where I was. \u2026 Just mistimed it and just missed it.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the ninth, Bellinger and Chisholm opened with a single and double, ending Alvarez\u2019s day. His ERA rose to 4.04 after a second straight rough outing.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday was unfortunate to let the team down,\u201d Alvarez said. \u201cYou never want to do it. You feel terrible. Have to learn from the mistakes and the failures.\u201d<\/p>\n

Justin Lawrence gave up a sacrifice fly to make it 5-3, and, although he let on more traffic, was able to get the Nationals out of the inning. Washington\u2019s offense, though, had no fight left, going down on four pitches in the bottom of the ninth.<\/p>\n

Piggybacking starters was worth a try, especially as Butera tries to make the most out of the roster available to him. But the Nationals won\u2019t be able to rely on that strategy in the long term \u2014 at least not until Jake Irvin and Trevor Williams are healthy again. Alvarez, who was on regular rest, was available Sunday only because Washington is heading into the break and will not need him to pitch again until Friday at the earliest.<\/p>\n

So now, after another failed attempt at fixing their bullpen problem, it\u2019s back to the drawing board for Butera and the Nationals\u2019 front office as they head into the second half.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to let it sting, it\u2019s the reality of it,\u201d Butera said. \u201cWe need to use these days off as a chance to take a break physically but also understand we have some important baseball ahead of us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Note: <\/b>Abimelec Ortiz was called up for his MLB debut Sunday, starting at designated hitter and batting third. The 24-year-old, who had 16 homers at Class AAA Rochester after coming over as part of the MacKenzie Gore trade, had his first hit in the fourth inning, a double to center field.<\/p>\n

Matt Krook, who blew the lead Friday, was designated for assignment as the corresponding move.<\/p>

Read more Kelsey Mitchell, Caitlin Clark lead Fever to 109-75 win over A\u2019ja Wilson and the Aces<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Washington had been at or above .500 since June 6.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7225,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7228","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"\nNationals can\u2019t hold on and are swept by Yankees to enter all-star break below .500 - 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=7228\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Nationals can\u2019t hold on and are swept by Yankees to enter all-star break below .500 - Moving Insider USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Washington had been at or above .500 since June 6.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=7228\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Moving Insider USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-13T05:34:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/63ea7ae7af270cb73dd2f4a4ea0de0e4-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=7228#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=7228\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03\"},\"headline\":\"Nationals can\u2019t hold on and are swept by Yankees to enter all-star break below .500\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-13T05:34:48+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=7228\"},\"wordCount\":1035,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=7228#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/91c4bd9f279135811703f57ce30203d9-scaled.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Interesting\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=7228#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=7228\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=7228\",\"name\":\"Nationals can\u2019t hold on and are swept by Yankees to enter all-star break below .500 - 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