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All seasons are judged on final records. The Nationals were hoping their 2025 season would finish with a better record than they had in each of the previous two seasons. But unfortunately, that goal of improving upon 71-91 has long been out of reach.
Given the state of the team, the next-best thing would be to avoid a 100-loss campaign, which would be the Nats’ second since losing 107 in 2022.
But with this 5-0 extra-inning loss to complete a doubleheader sweep at the hands of the Braves, the Nats still need to win one more game over their final 10 to ensure they will avoid that dreaded 100-loss season.
After the Nats spoiled a chance to walk it off in the bottom of the ninth inning of a scoreless game, Mason Thompson entered for the 10th and immediately surrendered the first run. Pinch-hitter Drake Baldwin drilled a low slider off the right field wall to easily score the automatic runner at second, giving the Braves a 1-0 lead.
But that wasn’t the worst of it, as Thompson proceeded to load the bases with a single and a walk and then give up a three-run triple to Matt Olson to turn this once 0-0 extra-inning game into a 4-0 Braves lead. An Ozzie Albies sac fly put the final nail in the coffin, sending the announced crowd of 19,216 home after a long, cold and wet day.
“He made good pitches. ... He's been pitching well, too," interim manager Miguel Cairo said of Thompson. "I'm telling you, they got really good hitters in there and good switch-hitters. Sometimes when you make a mistake, they make you pay.”
The end result was not reflective of the effort put forth by MacKenzie Gore, who was locked in a pitchers’ duel with Chris Sale. The battle of the All-Star southpaws started off with some jams in the first. But then both cruised through the rest of their respective outings.
After rain delayed the start of the nightcap by two hours, Gore loaded the bases in the first with a hit and two walks, but he got out of the jam by smartly covering first base on a grounder to the right side. The Braves didn't score, but Gore threw 27 pitches.
The Nationals offense also had a chance to score in the first with leadoff man Nasim Nuñez (yes, leadoff man Nasim Nuñez) hitting a single up the middle and stealing second base. But Sale, too, stranded the baserunner.
The left-handed starters settled in from there.
Each of them allowed just one baserunner (both via hits) over the next four innings.
“You know that's how it's gonna be with Sale pitching," Gore said. "So yeah, we kind of understand that's what kind of game it's gonna be. And he was great. That's what kind of game it was.”
Gore did so by getting a lot of swing-and-miss, finishing with 13 whiffs, to be exact. Eight of those whiffs came against his changeup, which was exceptionally effective tonight. He recorded three of his five strikeouts with the off-speed pitch while throwing it 20 percent of the time, up from 10 percent of the time on the season entering tonight.
“We knew going in that there was going to be some opportunity for it. And then it was just also effective," Gore said of his changeup. "So that's kind of what the game was giving us. We were able to throw it and execute it enough. We got some strikeouts and some swing-and-miss. So yeah, we knew going in, it could be a weapon, and then that's kind of what the game gave us and we threw it.”
But ironically, Gore’s night ended on a misplaced changeup in the dirt on his 92nd pitch to walk Ronald Acuña Jr. with one out in the sixth. With Gore completing only five innings on 78 pitches in his return from left shoulder inflammation last week, Cairo thought that was enough for the 26-year-old ace, whose long-term health means a lot more to the Nationals than this head-to-head battle with Sale in a lost season.
“Last time, we tried to keep him at 75-80 (pitches)," the interim skipper said. "This time we went almost to 90, somewhere in there. We didn't want to push it farther than that.”
Gore finished his 5 ⅓ shutout innings with two hits, three walks and the five Ks on 92 pitches, 58 strikes. His ERA is now down to 4.00 for the first time since the end of July.
“Just understand what we needed to do going in, and I thought we were solid," he said. "And with the delay, too, we were able to kind of settle in once the rain stopped. Yeah, just understand what we needed to do and we did a good enough job of executing.”
Meanwhile, Sale carved up a Nationals lineup that was missing CJ Abrams and James Wood, delivering a steady mix of his fastball, slider and changeup.
“He's nasty, man," Cairo said. "I know we had our hands full today with him. Our pitchers kept us in the game, we got a chance to finish the game. It didn't happen. They came back and they closed the game. It goes like that sometimes. Sometimes the games happen like that, and there is nothing you can do about it. Just got to come back tomorrow and keep fighting.”
He got six of his nine strikeouts on his slider en route to eight shutout innings with three hits, no walks and one wild pitch on 106 pitches, 71 strikes.
“It's probably always difficult. Every time I've seen him, it's been pretty difficult," Nuñez said of Sale's slider. "It's like a Frisbee. It's literally flying across the zone. So you just do your best and hope you make good contact.”
Sale brought his ERA down to 2.35, which is three points lower than it was last year when he won the National League Cy Young Award.
“He's a vet," Nuñez said. "I honestly thought he was getting better as the game was going on. He did his thing. That's why everybody knows the name Chris Sale.”
But while both aces shoved on the mound for much of the game, the final score wasn’t decided until after they each departed. And the Nats now only have 10 games remaining to decide how their 2025 season will be finally judged.
"We got our chances. Nothing we can do about it," Cairo said. "We're going to keep fighting. And like I said, we got to come back tomorrow and fight again.”
