CJ Abrams keeps carrying the Nationals, and this time the rest of the club backed him up just enough.
Washington walked into a game it badly needed and came out with a 5-3 win, hanging on in a matchup that felt bigger than the box score. The Nats weren’t clean, and they certainly weren’t dominant, but they did what mattered most: they answered when the game started tilting away from them.
The early innings were rough. Against soft-tossing Mitch Bratt, the Nationals offense looked flat again, and that made Arizona’s two-run third inning feel even heavier. Foster Griffin had to work through traffic early, and he couldn’t escape the third after Gabriel Moreno lined a two-run single into the mix.
Then Washington finally woke up.
Curtis Mead drew a walk, Andres Chaparro followed with a double, and CJ Abrams did what he’s been doing all season: he delivered in a big spot. His double into the gap tied the game and flipped the momentum.
Abrams then made a costly mistake by getting picked off right after, but the Nationals didn’t let that kill the rally. They kept it moving with a walk and a hit, and Daylen Lile came through with a triple to push Washington ahead 4-2.
Lile’s triple was another reminder of what he can bring when things click. He now has five triples this season after hitting 11 as a rookie last year.
The 23-year-old has had his share of uneven moments in 2026, but he’s still holding his own overall, and the defensive gains have been real. Even with the sophomore slump talk, there’s still a lot to like there.
Abrams, though, was the headline again.
The Nationals shortstop went 3 for 4 and finished a triple shy of the cycle. His solo homer in the fifth made it 5-2, and that was enough breathing room for Washington to finish the job. The Nats didn’t score again after that, even with a few chances, but the five-run total held up.
That’s because Abrams is playing at another level right now. He’s hitting .293 with a .921 OPS, along with 25 homers and a Major League-leading 79 RBI’s.
He also has 17 steals. It’s been a monster season, and the way he’s finishing the second half has only made it louder.
In his last six games, Abrams is 14 for 25 with 5 homers.
The pitching side of the story mattered too.
With trade rumors swirling around him and Abrams, Foster Griffin got the ball and gave Washington 6.2 innings while allowing three runs. It wasn’t his sharpest outing, but it was still enough to keep the Nationals in position. If this ends up being one of Griffin’s last starts in a Nationals uniform, the appreciation is easy to understand.
After Griffin, Eddy Yean and Clayton Beeter took over and slammed the door. The two combined for 2.1 scoreless innings without allowing a baserunner. That kind of clean finish was exactly what Washington needed.
Yean, especially, keeps looking more and more like a real late-inning option. The hard-throwing right-hander is earning trust in bigger spots, and his power sinker and aggressive approach are starting to fit naturally in the back end of the bullpen. He attacks hitters, pounds the zone, and doesn’t seem bothered by the moment.
Washington needed this one, and it got it. The offense left some runs out there, but Abrams did Abrams things, Lile delivered a timely swing, Griffin held on long enough, and the bullpen shut it down.
Now the Nationals move on to a rubber match against the D-Backs, with rookie lefty Kohl Drake waiting on the other side. With the deadline looming and a Wild Card contender in front of them, every game is carrying extra weight.
In Other News...
Nationals Just Sent A Breakout Bat Away For A Bigger Bet
Andrew Meads breakout at the plate made him one of the more interesting bats in Washingtons system this season, but the Nationals still chose to move him in a deal that speaks clearly to where they are in the bigger picture. Boston got the left-handed hitter it wanted, while Washington continued leaning into the kind of roster-building move that has defined its rebuild, using a player whose value had climbed to bring back pitching help.
Tanner Early gives the Nationals another young arm to evaluate, and that alone fits the organizations current priorities. The trade also underscores how much Washington is willing to keep chasing upside on the mound, even when it means parting with a former top prospect who had finally started to turn his offensive tools into real production. [Read more 🡒]
Nationals Just Made A Deadline Move That Will Split The Fanbase
The Nationals deadline day brought a familiar kind of front-office gamble, one that says as much about where the club thinks it is as where it hopes to go. Washington and Boston lined up on a deal that sent a third baseman with real offensive momentum to the Red Sox and brought back a young starter the Nationals believe can help a rotation that needs more stability.
For Nationals fans, the reaction is easy to understand because this is the sort of move that can be read two ways at once. It adds a pitcher with upside to a staff that could use one, but it also means parting with a bat that had started to look like a long-term answer, and the fact that Paul Toboni has ties to Boston only adds another layer to a trade that will be judged differently depending on which side of the argument youre on. [Read more 🡒]
Nationals Just Sparked Serious CJ Abrams Trade Fear
The Nationals latest move with Boston added another layer to an already busy stretch, as Washington brought in left-hander Connelly Early in a one-for-one swap for infielder Curtis Mead. It was the kind of deal that usually gets filed under roster churn, but around the league it also served as a reminder that the Nationals are still sorting out what their long-term core is supposed to look like.
CJ Abrams sits at the center of that conversation, and the possibility of him being available has already started to ripple beyond Washington. He has become one of the most important names to watch as teams weigh both present needs and future upside, which is why even a hint of movement around him carries real weight for a club trying to build back toward contention. [Read more 🡒]