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Takeaways: Nationals Back At .500 After Big Series Win vs. Braves
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- Takeaways: Nationals Back At .500 After Big Series Win vs. Braves
(Dale Zanine-Imagn Images)
The Washington Nationals ' pitching shines in back-to-back wins en route to their first series win in Atlanta since May 2024.
The Nationals flipped a switch as their bats combined for only four runs in Saturday's and Sunday's wins. Entering the series against the Atlanta Braves , the Nationals led the MLB in runs scored as well as runs allowed.
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The series started with a 5-4 loss in extra innings on Friday . The game entered extra innings tied 2-2, with Curtis Mead and CJ Abrams solo home runs accounting for the Nationals' runs.
Mitchell Parker allowed two earned runs in the top of the seventh inning after allowing three hits and a walk.
The Nationals scored two runs in the top of the 10th inning off an Abrams triple that brought home James Wood and Andrés Chaparro. Chaparro walked to lead off the inning with Wood starting on second base.
Orlando Ribalta would pitch the bottom of the 10th inning, but allowed the Braves to tie the score after allowing three lead-off base runners.
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After the Nationals failed to score in the top of the 11th inning, Paxton Schultz would allow a walk-off single after recording two outs.
Miles Mikolas pitched five innings after Richard Lovelady opened the game. Mikolas finished his five innings, allowing three hits and zero earned runs. That was the second time that Mikolas finished an outing with zero earned runs for the Nationals.
Mikolas wouldn't be the only Nationals' starting pitcher to go scoreless, as both Jake Irvin and Foster Griffin finished their outings scoreless.
Irvin made the start on Saturday's win and pitched five no-hit innings before being pulled with an injury.
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After the game on Saturday, Irvin was placed on the 15-day Injury List for a right shoulder strain.
Brad Lord would pitch the next three innings, where he allowed one hit. Lovelady took the mound for a perfect ninth inning to record a save.
The Nationals' pitching allowed a combined one hit and one walk while striking out 11 batters, for their second shutout of the season.
Offensively, Dylan Crews and Jorbit Vivas both hit their first home runs of the Major League season.
The Nationals won another low-scoring affair in a rainy game Sunday . After a 22-minute rain delay pushed back the start, play was halted again for 1 hour, 28 minutes after the seventh inning.
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Griffin made the start on the mound for the Nationals and pitched six scoreless innings. Griffin struggled in his last two starts, allowing five earned runs in the first two innings in a win against the Mets and nine earned runs in 4.1 innings in a loss against the Reds.
He finished with six strikeouts and allowed three hits and a walk on Sunday. He also recorded his sixth win of the season, tied for fifth in the MLB.
The Nationals scored their first run of the game in the top of the fifth inning. Daylen Lile and Jacob Young led off the inning with a double and a single and had runners at the corners. A Nasim Nuñez single would bring home Lile to give the Nationals a 1-0 lead.
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The Nationals extended the lead in the eighth inning after a Luis García Jr. RBI single scored James Wood. Wood started at first base after a walk, but stole second and reached third off a Mead fly ball to right field.
Andrew Alvarez pitched the seventh inning and the first out of the eighth inning. He walked Braves' Ronald Acuña Jr. in the eighth inning before being pulled for Gus Varland .
Alvarez would be an option to take Irvin's place in the rotation as he deals with injury. The Nationals called up reliever PJ Poulin , leaving a hole in the rotation. Mitchell Parker and Brad Lord will also be options for the Nationals.
The Braves applied pressure in the ninth inning with Varland on the mound. He would not record an out before allowing two lead-off singles and being pulled. Lovelady entered the game for the third straight day. He recorded an out and allowed a run on a fielder's choice, where Nuñez committed an error while throwing to first base.
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Nuñez has been a major talking point for Nationals fans. At the plate, he is currently batting just .186 with a .289 OBP and a .494 OPS. On the other side, Nuñez is in the 90th percentile of qualified second basemen with three outs above average (OAA). He also leads the MLB with 22 stolen bases, despite reaching base at a lower rate.
Orlando Ribalta took the mound after Lovelady walked his third batter. Ribalta entered with the bases loaded and one out, but recorded the save after striking out Chadwick Tromp and closing the game with a groundout from Acuña.
Takeaways
The pitching stepped up big time.The Braves rank second in the MLB in runs scored with 282, only behind the Nationals. The Nationals rank dead last in runs allowed with 302.
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Against all odds, they allowed only six runs in the series. Only three runs if you exclude extra innings. Six runs is the lowest allowed in a series by the Nationals since July 27 2025, against the Minnesota Twins .
Dylan Crews looks better as he starts his 2026 stint.Crews and Chaparro were optioned up to the Major Leagues for Brady House and Joey Wiemer . After holding a .777 OPS in Triple-A, he was welcomed back to the Major Leagues. His bat speed, K%, sweet-spot% and whiff% have all increased from his 2025 Major League stint.
He has gotten a hit in all but one of his six appearances and put the Nationals on the board with a solo home run in Saturday's win.
For Brady House, he showed promise in his Major League stint with a strong March and early April, but struggled on defense. He had eight errors in 37 appearances and was toward the bottom of the barrel of the MLB with -4 OAA. After his bat started to slip, it felt more possible that he was a Triple-A candidate.
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Andrew Alvarez continues to show promise.Alvarez has shown promise in Triple-A for the Nationals since 2024 and looked good in five Major League appearances in 2025. After getting called up, Alvarez has appeared in four games. He has an ERA of 2.38 in those four appearances, but more impressively has had a WHIP of 1.03 and a K/BB ratio of 5.3.
He pitched four crucial outs in Sunday's win against the Braves, and pitched under three innings for the first time this season. He will be an enticing option for the Nationals to fill in for the now-injured Jake Irivin.
Orlando Ribalta comes up big.Ribalta has spent most of May in the Major Leagues after being called up from the Triple-A Rochester Red Wings.
He has continued to carve out a bigger role in the bullpen, now pitching in two of the biggest innings of the series against the Braves. He pitched the 10th inning on Friday and would allow two runs, which evened the score, but stood strong, two straight outs with bases loaded.
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He would run into a similar situation after being brought in with a one-run lead in the ninth inning of Sunday's rubber match, as the Braves had the bases loaded and one out. Ribalta would record the final two outs, recording his second save of the season.
Ribalta currently has a 2.31 ERA and a very solid 1.03 WHIP in 11.2 innings pitched.
James Wood's patient approach.Wood finished the series batting 3-for-8 but got on base five extra times with walks.
Wood is typically a patient batter, averaging 4.22 pitches per plate appearance, which is 18th among all qualified batters in the MLB, according to FOX Sports. In the series against the Braves, he finished with 5.38 pitches per plate appearance.
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He finished with five walks to only two strikeouts, which has continued to be his weakest point. Wood has a .396 on-base percentage, which is a big reason why he leads the MLB in total runs.
A walk from Wood helped set up the needed insurance run in the eighth inning of Sunday's win.
After Sunday's game ended at 8:38 p.m. EST, the Nationals will have less than 22 hours to travel and prepare for the road series against the Cleveland Guardians that begins on Monday at 6:10 p.m. EST.
The Nationals are now back at .500 for the fourth time in the 2026 season and are yet to win a game when entering with an even record.
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