The Nationals walked out of Busch Stadium with the kind of loss that stings precisely because so much of the weekend had gone right.
Washington was six outs from a sweep before Sunday slipped away in a 5-3 defeat to the Cardinals. Iván Herrera erased the lead with a solo homer off Erik Tolman in the eighth, then Leo Bernal followed later in the inning with a go-ahead two-run blast off Yovanny Cruz.
“I thought we should have won all three games,” manager Blake Butera said. “You leave winning two, and you should feel good about it, but it doesn't feel very good because I feel like we should have won all three.”
Still, the result didn’t wipe out the bigger picture for a team sitting at 73-83 with six games left. Inside the Nationals’ clubhouse, the mood was less about the missed sweep and more about what the weekend said about where this young group is headed.
“Heck no, dude,” Jake Irvin said when asked if Sunday’s disappointment outweighed the progress of the weekend. “There was a lot of fight in this team, and that's what you take out of it.”
Washington had plenty to like in St. Louis, especially from its starting pitching. Cade Cavalli, Andrew Alvarez and Irvin combined to allow two runs over 16 1/3 innings, giving the Nationals a real chance in each game.
Irvin handled the final start of the series and turned in a strong one, striking out eight while giving up two runs in 5 1/3 innings.
The offense did enough to put Washington in front for a stretch. Brady House singled, then CJ Abrams followed with a two-run homer in the sixth to give the Nationals a 3-2 lead.
The bullpen couldn’t hold it.
Tolman came right after Herrera with a 97.8 mph fastball, and Herrera drove it out to even the score. Then, after Tolman walked Jordan Walker with two outs, Cruz entered and gave up Bernal’s decisive homer.
Butera said he would have preferred not to see the walk, but he wasn’t interested in second-guessing young relievers for staying aggressive.
“At the end of the day, I'd rather go down throwing strikes and throwing our best stuff than walking guys,” Butera said.
Tolman took the same view. For him, Sunday was another part of the learning curve that comes with high-leverage innings in the Majors.
“It's not the first time I failed,” Tolman said. “You just got to put your big boy pants on and move forward.”
That’s the larger assignment for Washington as it looks ahead to 2027: let the young pitchers keep working through pressure spots, let the young hitters keep learning how to finish, and keep building on the competitive baseball the club has shown lately after a rough second half. Tolman said the group has carried real momentum over the past week.
Irvin thinks the growth goes beyond individual performances.
“We got so many guys here that are just so talented, really young, really hungry,” Irvin said. “The goal in here is just to continue to get better, continue to grow, continue to build a culture. I think we've done a really good job of that, and it's a huge step forward for this organization.”
In Other News...
Nationals Depth Pieces Are Forcing Attention In Rochesters Playoff Push
Rochester kept rolling with a 7-3 win over Buffalo, a result that gave the club its second straight victory and its fourth in five games against the Bisons. The Nationals Triple-A affiliate got steady work on the mound from Zak Kent, who allowed one run over four innings, and Joe Glassey, who followed with a scoreless inning to pick up the win. At the plate, Cayden Wallace, Max Romero Jr., and Trey Lipscomb all helped push the offense forward as Rochester continued to play like a team with something real at stake.
The timing matters, too, because every win tightens the picture in the International League playoff race. Rochester is not just padding September numbers here, it is putting pressure on the teams around it while a handful of Nationals depth pieces keep making their case for bigger attention. For a club that has leaned on organizational depth all season, this stretch is exactly the kind of late push that can change how those players are viewed going forward. [Read more 🡒]
Nationals Finally Get A Crucial Look At DJ Herz Again
DJ Herz is finally getting the kind of look the Nationals have been waiting for, with the left-hander set to start the series opener against the Tigers on Monday. Washington has spent most of the last year and a half trying to map out what comes next for a pitcher whose arm talent has long made him one of the more interesting pieces in the organization, even as his path has been interrupted by surgery and a long rehab process.
For the Nationals, this start is about more than filling a turn in the rotation. Herzs return gives the club a chance to see where he stands now and whether he can factor into plans for future seasons, a test that has been on hold since his last big league appearance in 2024. The timing makes it a meaningful checkpoint for a team still sorting through how much of its pitching future can be built around arms like his. [Read more 🡒]
Nationals Have A Late Season Chance Fans Should Care About
A late-season series against the Cardinals has given Washington something it has not always had this year: a meaningful reason to keep watching. The Nationals have already improved on last seasons win total, they have gotten strong pitching stretches from Andrew Alvarez and Cade Cavalli, and their offense has done enough to rank third in MLB in runs scored. Even with a staff that has allowed 4.66 earned runs per game, the clubs plus-14 run differential reflects a team that has been better than its place in the standings might suggest.
Jake Irvin takes the ball as the Nationals continue sorting out more than just the next game. He is arbitration-eligible, and the organization is weighing what his future role should look like as it evaluates the pieces that fit beyond this season. A win here would also keep Washington in control of its own path and preserve a two-game edge over the Mets, which means the final week still carries a little edge for a fan base that has spent much of the year waiting for one. [Read more 🡒]