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ATLANTA – When things don’t go your way, they really don’t go your way. And things had not gone the Nationals’ way for the better part of the last eight days.
In order to break an extended losing streak, the Nationals had to do almost everything right. And even though they made more mistakes than positive plays in the early parts of this game, the fact that they put together a late rally showed a lot about what this team has: Fight.
This 5-4 comeback victory may look like any ordinary win over the Braves, but it in fact snapped a seven-game losing streak and may have been the first sign that the Nats can finally turn this thing around.
“That win was great," manager Davey Martinez said after the first victory in over a week. "Put one on the board for the good guys, how's that? The boys played well. We're playing baseball. It's fun to watch these guys come out and compete. … It was a good team effort today.”
Down 4-3 in the eighth, the Nats finally put together the clutch at-bats they’ve been searching for over the past week.
CJ Abrams drew a leadoff walk against right-hander Enyel De Los Santos, whose errant pickoff attempt went into the camera well. That resulted in a two-base error and put Abrams 90 feet away from tying the game with no outs.
Amed Rosario drove him in with a single to center field to knot it a 4-4. And then James Wood delivered the go-ahead run with an RBI double to right, as pinch-runner Nasim Nuñez scored from first.
“The inning before and that inning, guys were putting together good at-bats," Wood said. "I was just able to get a good pitch. He threw me a couple of good changeups. And Nas did a good job scoring from first.”
“We wanted to stay positive," Abrams said. "We're always coming back from behind because we fight as a team. And we showed it in that eighth inning. Good momentum, and we're gonna keep it going.”
After Jackson Rutledge, Cole Henry and Jose A. Ferrer got it to the ninth, Kyle Finnegan entered for his first appearance since the first game of last Tuesday’s doubleheader against the Guardians. And he entered with a 6.92 ERA in 27 career appearances pitching on five-plus days of rest.
But the All-Star closer buckled down after a leadoff single to record his 13th save.
“I felt good," he said. "I was able to throw up the mound a few times in between the last two games. So I felt good, felt fresh. We needed this one, and so it feels good to get it done.”
While the Nats were able to score first for the second consecutive night, they wasted an opportunity to put more runs on the board, setting up the sloppy play that was to follow.
Facing Atlanta starter Bryce Elder, owner of a 4.97 ERA at the start of the night, the first three Nats hitters reached via a single, a hit-by-pitch and another single. That second hit by Wood could have been of the run-scoring variety, or at very least loaded the bases with no outs.
But Abrams got a late jump from second base as he tried to get a read of the ball as it went into right field. Rosario, with a better view at first base, got a great jump. Unfortunately for Abrams, it seemed like third base coach Ricky Gutierrez waved him home based on Rosario’s start. At that point, Abrams had already slowed down coming to third while Stuart Fairchild fielded the ball, so he had to suddenly speed up again, only to be easily thrown out up the third base line.
“I kind of froze on a line drive. And then around third, I kind of froze, too," Abrams said. "I looked behind me and I saw Amed, so I had to keep going. It just is what it is. Tough.”
The Nationals did score a run in the first inning on Nathaniel Lowe’s ground ball. But a golden opportunity to put a crooked number on the board in the first frame was wasted.
Things only got weirder from there.
After two perfect innings, Mitchell Parker, who has been looking for better starts to his outings, almost served up a leadoff home run to Michael Harris II in the third. But the ball hit the top of the wall in right field and bounced back onto the field, with Alex Call making a heads-up play to throw it back into the infield. After the umpires met and Davey Martinez requested a crew chief review, the call was overturned to a triple, much to the chagrin of the 37,134 in attendance.
That only delayed the inevitable, though, because two pitches later Fairchild hit an RBI double to center field that was almost caught by a diving Dylan Crews.
Then as Fairchild tried to steal third in the next at-bat, Riley Adams’ throw down the line went past Rosario, who was late getting to the bag, and ended up in right field, allowing another run to score on a throwing error.
“Don't give up on it," Parker said of his unusual outing. "We were ahead. Just keep throwing strikes. Eventually, I mean, hitting is hard, they'll get themselves out or we'll get something that'll work out.”
Josh Bell, needing a hit in the worst way, finally got one off the right field wall in the top of the fourth. But as he tried to stretch it into a double, he tumbled into the base trying to avoid the tag by Nick Allen. Well past the bag, Bell did everything he could to get back safely and was helped by Allen dropping the ball.
But the Braves challenged the safe call and video review called Bell out by a good amount.
“That's what happens when you're trying to force the issue," Martinez said. "We haven't won any games. We're struggling to win. These guys are trying really hard. Remember, I talked about yesterday, sometimes we're trying a little too hard, trying to make things happen.”
Parker then took a 107.2 mph comebacker from Austin Riley off his left knee in the fifth inning. At 80 pitches, manager Davey Martinez took him out and brought in Rutledge with two outs and runners on second and third in the fifth.
“It's feeling, but we'll be good," Parker said of his knee, which was wrapped in a bandage after the game.
And with the count full, Marcell Ozuna hit a two-run double down the third base line to put the Nats in a 4-1 hole.
But to the Nats’ credit, the boys battled back. Crews delivered his second hit of the night, this one an RBI single, and José Tena followed with an RBI double to make it a one-run game in the seventh, setting up the eighth-inning rally.
For a moment, the handful of mistakes looked like they were going to be too much for the Nats to overcome. But you can’t snap a losing streak without some kind of fight.
“I think that's a momentum builder when we're playing aggressive like that and pushing the envelope," Martinez said. "Guys feed off of that. And as you see tonight, it happened. We were down, we stayed in the game, we kept the heads up and we played good baseball.”
“We got good momentum," Abrams said. "We got to keep our heads high. We lost seven in a row, we got to find a way to win. And we did that in that eighth inning.”
“It feels good. It's felt like a while since we've been in the win column," Wood said. "It was a team win. I just think it was big for us. I feel like there were big at-bats from everybody. And the bullpen did their job, Mitch did his job, and it was just a team win.”
