{"id":8448,"date":"2026-08-01T04:34:55","date_gmt":"2026-08-01T04:34:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=8448"},"modified":"2026-08-01T04:34:55","modified_gmt":"2026-08-01T04:34:55","slug":"foster-griffins-potential-last-start-as-a-national-is-a-rough-one","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=8448","title":{"rendered":"Foster Griffin\u2019s potential last start as a National is a rough one"},"content":{"rendered":"

The left-hander, having a breakout season, was charged with all six runs in a 6-2 loss to the Braves.<\/strong><\/p>

Read more George Santos accused of \u2018manipulative activity\u2019 in prediction market trades<\/a><\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/figure>\n\n
Washington Nationals pitcher Foster Griffin reacts after giving up a three-run home run to Atlanta\u2019s Michael Harris II on Friday. (Erik S. Lesser\/Ap Photo\/Erik S. Lesser)<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

ATLANTA \u2014 Foster Griffin doesn\u2019t show his emotions much. His ability to stay even-keeled has helped him excel in his return to MLB after three years in Japan. Even when the left-hander is having a bad start \u2014 and he hasn\u2019t had many \u2014 his Washington Nationals teammates and manager have remarked that he\u2019s still the same guy.<\/p>\n

But Griffin\u2019s voice did quiver, ever so slightly, when he was asked what his time with the Nationals has meant to him after what could have been his last start for the team. It was far from his sharpest \u2014 he allowed six runs in 5\u2153 innings as the Nationals fell to the Atlanta Braves, 6-2, suffering their third straight loss and falling below .500.<\/p>\n

With Monday\u2019s trade deadline inching closer, Griffin\u2019s fate rests in the hands of the Nationals\u2019 front office.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m human, right?\u201d Griffin said. \u201cIt\u2019s not easy. The last week or so, it is what it is. We\u2019re professionals, right? I still have to go out there and play and execute. That\u2019s not an excuse for how things went tonight, but that\u2019s just the situation I\u2019m in right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Like the since-traded Curtis Mead<\/a>, Griffin is a success story for the new staff. After that deal, President of Baseball Operations Paul Toboni felt mixed emotions: pride in the work Washington and Mead had put in to turn his career around, and a bit of sadness shipping it all away. But he had to balance that feeling with business, and acquiring Connelly Early is a major boost to a lacking pitching staff.<\/p>\n

Now, the Nationals must decide what to do with Griffin. His situation isn\u2019t as clear cut as Mead\u2019s. While Washington had Brady House \u2014 a former first-round pick \u2014 ready to replace Mead at third base, the team doesn\u2019t have ample pitching it can rely on, even with Griffin still in the equation.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s been the stalwart of the rotation: Even after Friday\u2019s rough outing, he has pitched to a 3.06 ERA while averaging nearly six innings per start. He also was selected to his first all-star team and has become an integral part of the clubhouse, taking younger pitchers such as Cade Cavalli and Andrew Alvarez under his wing.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not even about pitching,\u201d Griffin said when he reflected on what it\u2019s meant to be on the Nationals. \u201cIt\u2019s kind of just about the camaraderie in this clubhouse we\u2019ve created \u2014 the culture in here is great. I feel like the team has a lot of bright stars in here and a lot of up-and-coming stars as well, something that\u2019ll be able to compete in this division and this league for a long time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Griffin doesn\u2019t have social media on his phone, but he still knows the scenarios surrounding him. When he walked into the stadium today, he jokingly asked Manager Blake Butera if he was still starting after New York Mets scratched Freddy Peralta and Tigers did the same with Casey Mize. Like Griffin, they are trade candidates who could be moved before Monday\u2019s deadline.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll the talks that he\u2019s been involved in, with his name out there on social media, and what\u2019s real and not real, and dealing with a lot mentally \u2014 he had a lot going on out there,\u201d Butera said.\u201d<\/p>\n

There were signs from the start that Friday wasn\u2019t Griffin\u2019s day. He gave up a solo home run to Matt Olson in the first inning on a first-pitch cutter right down the middle. An inning later, Jim Jarvis\u2019s RBI single made it 2-0 Braves.<\/p>

Read more Temperature rises, on and off court, at DC Open quarterfinals<\/a><\/p>\n

In the fourth inning, CJ Abrams hit a solo shot, his 28th homer of the season, to get Washington on the board.<\/p>\n

Griffin faced the minimum in the fourth and fifth innings, but things unraveled in the sixth as the Braves grew more aggressive, swinging and executing on first pitches. After a double from Olson and a single from Ozzie Albies, Michael Harris II hit a three-run home run on the third pitch of the inning to give the Braves a 5-1 lead.<\/p>\n

Mauricio Dub\u00f3n followed with a single before Griffin finally got the first out by striking out Austin Riley, but the damage had already been done.<\/p>\n

\u201cGoing back out for the sixth with the heart of the order, I felt like I definitely had some work to do because I felt like they were maybe seeing me maybe a little bit better than usual,\u201d Griffin said.<\/p>\n

Trevor Williams took over, letting in a run on another Jarvis single. The right-hander, in his second appearance back from an internal brace procedure in his elbow, finished the game for Washington without allowing another run.<\/p>\n

The Nationals had their chances to make it interesting, but for the second game in a row, they failed to produce in big situations. They went 0 for 8 with runners in scoring position, making them 0 for 17 this series. Five out of six of their runs in the last two games were scored on solo home runs, including a blast by Andr\u00e9s Chaparro in the ninth inning Friday.<\/p>\n

As Griffin walked off the mound in the sixth inning with his head low, his thoughts were on his frustrating outing, not on the whereabouts of his next start.<\/p>\n

If this was the end of his time with the Nationals, he said he\u2019s thankful they took a chance on him and appreciative of his teammates for the support that they\u2019ve given.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs of right now, I\u2019m a player for the Nats,\u201d Griffin said. \u201cIn a few days, we\u2019ll see where I am. I\u2019ll be grateful for any opportunity, whether I\u2019m still here and we\u2019re going to try and do this thing, or if I\u2019m with another team. The competitiveness in me and the will to win will never change whether I\u2019m here or somewhere else.\u201d<\/p>\n

Note: <\/b>Luis Garc\u00eda Jr. left the game in the seventh inning with right knee soreness. <\/b>He slipped while running out of the box in the first and felt some tightness. The feeling worsened as the game went on and he was removed as a precaution. After the game, he said the knee was already feeling better.<\/p>

Read more Prosecutors drop Reflecting Pool damage charge against former Olympian<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The left-hander, having a breakout season, was charged with all six runs in a 6-2 loss to the Braves.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8446,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8448","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"\nFoster Griffin\u2019s potential last start as a National is a rough one - 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=8448\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Foster Griffin\u2019s potential last start as a National is a rough one - Moving Insider USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The left-hander, having a breakout season, was charged with all six runs in a 6-2 loss to the Braves.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=8448\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Moving Insider USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-08-01T04:34:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/c213e9417cca8ee2613517b2e7476615-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=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8448#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8448\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03\"},\"headline\":\"Foster Griffin\u2019s potential last start as a National is a rough one\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-08-01T04:34:55+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8448\"},\"wordCount\":1149,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8448#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/b5353f6bdd890a191a7eb25f1c6f9b42-scaled.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Interesting\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8448#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8448\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8448\",\"name\":\"Foster Griffin\u2019s potential last start as a National is a rough one - Moving Insider USA\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8448#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8448#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/b5353f6bdd890a191a7eb25f1c6f9b42-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-08-01T04:34:55+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8448#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8448\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8448#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/b5353f6bdd890a191a7eb25f1c6f9b42-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/b5353f6bdd890a191a7eb25f1c6f9b42-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1707,\"caption\":\"Washington Nationals pitcher Foster Griffin, right, reacts on the mound after giving up a three-run home run to Atlanta Braves' Michael Harris II, left, during the sixth inning of a baseball game, Friday, July 31, 2026, in Atlanta. 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