ATLANTA – The Nationals should have been feeling good about their chances to break their losing streak entering the bottom of the ninth inning of last night’s game against the Braves.

Jackson Rutledge had just pitched a shutdown eighth inning on 12 pitches, keeping it a 3-1 game going to the ninth. In the top half of the final frame, the offense rallied to tie the game 3-3, thanks to a throwing error by Braves shortstop Nick Allen.

So when the door to the Nats bullpen swung open in left field, it was surprising to see only a security guard step out onto the warning track and turn to scan the crowd. Kyle Finnegan, the All-Star closer who hasn’t pitched since the first game of Tuesday’s doubleheader against the Guardians, remained in the ‘pen and Rutledge ran back to the mound from the dugout.

And so it was Finnegan watching from the sidelines as Rutledge gave up a single and sacrifice bunt on a combined four pitches, Andrew Chafin entered to surrender the walk-off RBI single to Alex Verdugo and the Nats dropped their sixth straight game, their longest such losing streak since 2023.

“He's throwing the ball well. We had the bottom of the order up. He threw the ball really well,” manager Davey Martinez said to defend his decision to stick with Rutledge in the ninth. “Chafin, he's a guy we count on to get lefties out. He put a good at-bat up. For me, I don't want to put my closer in a tie game in the ninth inning. So I thought that they threw the ball well. It was just unfortunate a ground ball got through the infield.”

It is a tough question for managers to answer in those situations. You want to save your closer on the road to pitch the bottom of the last inning when you have a lead and save the game. In this case, the Nats’ next chance to grab the lead would have been in the 10th.

But that can’t happen if the home team walks it off in the bottom of the ninth. So wouldn’t you want your best reliever pitching in that moment to give you the best chance to extend the game?

“We don't go to Finnegan when you're on the road in the ninth,” Martinez said. “Typically, it's been like that for years: You don't use your closer. If we run out of pitching, yeah, you have to do it. But these guys, they threw the ball well. And just like I said, a ground ball 3-2 up the middle.”

Sure enough, over 281 career appearances since 2021 when he recorded his first save with the Nats, Finnegan has only entered the bottom of the ninth of a tie game on the road five times, and not once this season.

But had Martinez called upon Finnegan in the ninth, perhaps the game would have gone to the 10th. And with the automatic runner at second and the Nats offense finally showing signs of life, perhaps the Nats would have taken the lead and someone else could have closed out their first win in six games.

Or maybe Chafin, who threw seven straight sliders to Verdugo before leaving a sinker up in the middle of the zone, locates that eighth pitch up and in where he wanted it. Then maybe the Nats score in the 10th and Finnegan is ready to come in to record his 13th save of the year.

It didn’t happen last night, but Chafin is confident for his next opportunity.

“Put me right back in there tomorrow. I'll get the job done tomorrow,” he said last night. “Odds are I'm gonna get him out. Just today wasn't that day.”

Martinez’s philosophy of saving his closer until he has a lead on the road makes sense. As the visitors, you can only close out wins on the mound. But with the Nats in desperate need of a victory, maybe last night could have been the exception to the skipper’s rule.

“There's always the ‘would you, could you’ kind of thing,” said Chafin. “Hindsight is always 20/20 they say.”