Albies Single Breaks Open Slugfest, ATL Survives 5-4
Washington built a 3-0 lead on the back of three home runs in four innings, then watched Atlanta erase it entirely and add two more. Ozzie Albies singled to center in the sixth to score two runs and hand the Braves a lead they never gave back.
Daylen Lile and Luis García Jr. turned the first four innings into a long-ball showcase for Washington. Lile got things started in the second, homering to right center 394 feet. García Jr. answered in the third with a 455-foot shot to right — the longest ball of the night. Lile came back in the fourth and went deep again to center, 408 feet, pushing the Nationals to a 3-0 advantage. Three home runs, three different innings, and Washington's starter Jake Irvin had what looked like a comfortable cushion to work with.
It evaporated fast. Irvin allowed 5 earned runs across 5.0 innings on 3 hits, 2 walks, and just 1 strikeout — the kind of outing that turns a lead into a liability. Ronald Acuña Jr. cut it to 3-1 with a 421-foot shot to center in the fourth. Then came the moment that flipped the game: Mike Yastrzemski homered to right in the fifth, 413 feet, scoring Smith alongside him to tie it at 3. The win probability swung from 36% to 63% in Atlanta's favor on that single swing. Grant Holmes had already exited after 4.2 innings with 3 earned runs allowed, but Atlanta's bullpen held Washington in check while the offense kept building. In the sixth, Albies singled to center and two runs scored — Baldwin and Acuña Jr. crossing the plate — to make it 5-3 Braves. Washington got one back in the seventh when García Jr. tripled to center to score Wood, but that was as close as they'd get.
The story of the night was the Nationals' inability to protect a lead their lineup had legitimately earned. García Jr. finished 3-for-5 with a homer, a triple, 2 RBI, and a run scored — a genuinely complete performance. Lile went 2-for-4 with both of his hits leaving the yard. Washington's offense did its job. The pitching didn't. Carson Palmquist and Riley Cornelio combined for 3 scoreless innings out of the bullpen — Cornelio striking out two in a clean final frame — but the damage from Irvin's start was already done. Atlanta appears to have gotten exactly what it needed from its lineup's middle core, with Acuña Jr. scoring twice and Albies delivering the decisive blow. Final: ATL 5, WSH 4.