{"id":8480,"date":"2026-08-02T04:07:22","date_gmt":"2026-08-02T04:07:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=8480"},"modified":"2026-08-02T04:07:22","modified_gmt":"2026-08-02T04:07:22","slug":"with-another-loss-to-the-braves-the-nationals-look-less-like-contenders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=8480","title":{"rendered":"With another loss to the Braves, the Nationals look less like contenders"},"content":{"rendered":"

Saturday\u2019s 8-3 defeat was the fourth in a row for Washington, which dropped to two games below .500 for the first time since May.<\/strong><\/p>

Read more Five takeaways from Week 1 of Commanders training camp<\/a><\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/figure>\n\n
Miles Mikolas, right, is tied for the NL lead with 26 homers allowed. (Erik S. Lesser\/AP)<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

ATLANTA \u2014 The Washington Nationals entered the weekend\u2019s four-game series against the Braves with a chance to prove to their front office that they are ready to go for it this season.<\/p>\n

Instead, through the first three games at Truist Park, including Saturday\u2019s 8-3 loss, Washington has shown that might be a step too far. It was the Nationals\u2019 fourth loss in a row, one short of matching their longest skid this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know, that\u2019s out of my hands,\u201d Manager Blake Butera said when asked if there\u2019s still a case for the Nationals to be buyers. \u201cRight now, I\u2019m just focused on getting these guys to play as well as we can.\u201d<\/p>\n

The players want to stay together. Yet with Monday\u2019s trade deadline approaching fast, the Nationals are two games under .500 for the first time since May and falling further behind in the National League wild-card race.<\/p>\n

They aren\u2019t out of it, and the front office can still decide to add pieces at the deadline to help the team make a playoff push. But Washington is facing an uphill battle, which won\u2019t get any easier once it leaves Atlanta.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are here, every single day, preparing our tails off to go out there and perform,\u201d Dylan Crews said. \u201cWhatever happens, happens. We can\u2019t control that. Whatever happens, we\u2019re going to go out there and perform and do our deal on our end and the front office and the guys up top are going to do their part.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not just the pitching to blame in Atlanta, although that hasn\u2019t been great, either. Miles Mikolas allowed four runs in six innings Saturday, which was actually the best start of the series after rough outings by Foster Griffin and Jake Irvin.<\/p>\n

The offense, which leads MLB in runs scored, is the larger culprit. The Nationals have gone 2 for 23 with runners in scoring position this series. On Saturday, they didn\u2019t get a hit until the seventh inning and didn\u2019t score until the eighth. They need to have a better plan at the plate, Butera said before Saturday\u2019s game, and to talk through their approach more.<\/p>\n

Whatever strategy they had intended to use Saturday went out the window 35 minutes before first pitch, when the Braves scratched scheduled starter Reynaldo L\u00f3pez with left knee inflammation.<\/p>\n

Mart\u00edn P\u00e9rez, who was lined up for Sunday\u2019s series finale, was on full rest and got the nod in L\u00f3pez\u2019s place. That sent the Nationals scrambling, swapping out their lineup to be better suited for a left-hander.<\/p>

Read more Trump insists vandals damaged Reflecting Pool, blasts DOJ for dropped charge<\/a><\/p>\n

There was no time to print out scouting reports or spend time studying P\u00e9rez on an iPad. Butera and the coaching staff did their best to track down individual players to go through what they could.<\/p>\n

\n
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Brady House’s seventh-inning single was the Nationals’ first hit. (Dale Zanine\/Imagn Images)<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

The retooled lineup didn\u2019t reach base safely until the fourth inning, when Andr\u00e9s Chaparro walked. It turned into a scoring opportunity thanks to a pair of miscues \u2014 Crews beat out a double play ball and advanced to second when first baseman Matt Olson couldn\u2019t make the catch at first, and CJ Abrams reached on a fielding error by shortstop Jim Jarvis. But they were both stranded when Brady House struck out.<\/p>\n

House finally broke up P\u00e9rez\u2019s no-hit bid with two outs in the seventh, lining a single to right field. Jacob Young then worked an eight-pitch walk, but the Nationals again failed to capitalize as Nasim Nu\u00f1ez lined out.<\/p>\n

P\u00e9rez, who allowed just the one hit in seven scoreless innings, had his changeup working against both sides. The Nationals swung at the pitch 15 times and whiffed on nine of them.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was hard to recognize that off the fastball,\u201d Butera said. \u201cPredominantly to our righties, which we tried to stack in there against him, he had it working tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n

Washington needed a lot more than one hit to claw its way back into the game. Mikolas allowed back-to-back home runs from Ronald Acu\u00f1a Jr. and Matt Olson in the first inning, then Drake Baldwin drove in a run with a single in the second to give the Braves a 3-0 lead. Dominic Smith\u2019s solo shot in the fourth was the 26th homer Mikolas has allowed, tied for the most in the NL.<\/p>\n

In the seventh, Riley Cornelio sandwiched two walks around an error by Abrams to load the bases with no one out. After retiring Michael Harris II and Ozzie Albies, Cornelio walked Dominic Smith on four pitches. Eddy Yean replaced him, bringing in one run on a wild pitch and two on a double from Austin Riley.<\/p>\n

Down by eight, Washington finally got a little bit of offense going in the eighth. After James Wood walked and Chaparro was plunked, Crews doubled in Wood, and Abrams\u2019s single drove home two more runs. But it wasn\u2019t nearly enough to catch the Braves.<\/p>\n

Now, with one game until the deadline, Sunday is their last chance not only to escape Atlanta with a win, but also potentially the last time players wear a Nationals uniform.<\/p>\n

\u201cGuys are frustrated,\u201d Butera said. \u201cThis is the first time in a while that we\u2019ve been in a spot where we\u2019re chasing a playoff [berth]. These guys want to win. I\u2019m sure they feel that. They are frustrated that we\u2019re losing, and there\u2019s nothing they want to do more than win some games right now.\u201d<\/p>

Read more Trump says he will \u2018push hard\u2019 for payout fund, keep Blanche as acting AG<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Saturday\u2019s 8-3 defeat was the fourth in a row for Washington, which dropped to two games below .500 for the first time since May.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8477,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8480","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"\nWith another loss to the Braves, the Nationals look less like contenders - 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=8480\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"With another loss to the Braves, the Nationals look less like contenders - Moving Insider USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Saturday\u2019s 8-3 defeat was the fourth in a row for Washington, which dropped to two games below .500 for the first time since May.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=8480\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Moving Insider USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-08-02T04:07:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/68fd937b0624ff17b952d12831f97989-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=8480#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8480\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03\"},\"headline\":\"With another loss to the Braves, the Nationals look less like contenders\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-08-02T04:07:22+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8480\"},\"wordCount\":1026,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8480#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/89a806ed32ec844b3901e2fe6568c2e7-scaled.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Interesting\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8480#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8480\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8480\",\"name\":\"With another loss to the Braves, the Nationals look less like contenders - Moving Insider USA\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8480#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8480#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/89a806ed32ec844b3901e2fe6568c2e7-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-08-02T04:07:22+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8480#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8480\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8480#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/89a806ed32ec844b3901e2fe6568c2e7-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/89a806ed32ec844b3901e2fe6568c2e7-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1707,\"caption\":\"Washington Nationals pitcher Miles Mikolas, right, grasps the rosin bag after giving up a solo home run to Atlanta Braves' Matt Olson, left, during the first inning of a baseball game, Saturday, Aug. 1, 2026, in Atlanta. 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