After getting swept in three by the Mets, the Washington Nationals fell to the Atlanta Braves on Friday for their fourth straight loss, only to win the next three games against their division rivals to take this four-game series at home.
This was the second time this season Washington won three games in a four-game series against the Braves, with the first instance coming on May 27-30.
With those three wins, the Nationals improve to 30-35 and in third place in the NL East. However, they are also the 4th-worst team in the National League, but surprisingly only two games behind the third Wild Card spot.
In the team’s 5-2 loss on Thursday night, the Nats were ahead 2-0 in the bottom of the sixth, only for the lead to disappear when Atlanta put up five unanswered runs in the next two innings, including Marcell Ozuna hitting his 18th home run of the season in the eighth.
C.J. Abrams and Lane Thomas each hit solo home runs for Washington, while Mitchell Parker looked solid at first as he went seven innings, only to give up a two-run homer from Adam Duvall that tied the game at 2-2, ending his night there.
The Nationals then ended the losing skid with a 2-1 victory on Friday, as the offense handed Braves starter Chris Sale his first loss since April 13th, thanks to Abrams scoring on a throwing error by Atlanta catcher Sean Murphy and Ildemaro Vargas hitting an RBI single in the fourth inning.
Jake Irvin got the start for Washington and struck out four batters in six innings on 96 pitches for his fourth win of the season, while Kyle Finnegan recorded his 17th save of the season.
The Nats then took the Saturday contest by the score of 7-3, where Eddie Rosario and Nick Senzel each had three RBIs in the contest. Rosario hit a double that drove in two runs along with an RBI single, while Senzel went 3-for-3 at the plate and homered for the first time since April 28th.
Pitching-wise, MacKenzie Gore took the mound and had seven strikeouts in five innings on 99 pitches for his fifth win, while the bullpen trio of Derek Law, Dylan Floro, and Robert Garcia finished the job.
Finally, Washington got the series win with an 8-5 victory on Sunday. Down 2-0, the Nationals offense went off in the bottom of the fourth with seven runs, followed by another in the fifth.
Keibert Ruiz led the way with four RBIs, including a three-run homer in the fourth and a sacrifice fly in the fifth, while Abrams hit a bases-clearing double in the fourth, and Luis Garcia Jr. hit an RBI single for Washington’s first run.
Rookie D.J. Herz had his second major league start on the bump and struck out five batters while giving up four earned runs in 4.1 innings pitched. Up 8-2 in the top of the ninth, reliever Jordan Weems surrendered a three-run homer with no outs before Finnegan replaced him and recorded his 18th save of the season.
Next up, the Nationals head up to Michigan for a road interleague series with the Detroit Tigers on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.
