Foster Griffin leads Nationals past Braves, ending home series streak
Foster Griffin quieted Atlanta for six innings, and the Nationals’ 2-1 win did more than end a streak. It hinted that Washington may be harder to dismiss than its record suggests.
Foster Griffin turned Atlanta’s most reliable home setting into a tight, uneasy afternoon, holding the Braves to three hits over six scoreless innings as Washington knocked off the first-place club 2-1 and ended its run of eight straight home series wins to open the season.
Griffin struck out six, walked one and gave the Nationals the kind of composed start they needed against a team that entered the day 36-18 overall, 14-9 at home and still sitting nine games ahead of Washington in the NL East. The Braves’ overall strength was obvious too, with a run differential of plus-102 entering the game, but Griffin kept the game from ever settling into Atlanta’s preferred rhythm.
Washington scored first when Nasim Nuñez singled in a run in the fifth inning, and that slim lead held through a stop-and-start afternoon shaped by weather. A 22-minute delay came before the game, then steady rain forced a longer interruption in the seventh inning, the kind of disruption that can push managers into bullpen decisions earlier than planned and test the timing of late-game execution.
Atlanta made the ninth inning uncomfortable. Singles and an error brought the tying run to the plate, but Orlando Ribalta entered and struck out Chadwick Tromp before getting Ronald Acuña Jr. on a weak grounder for his second save. For a Nationals club that had entered at 27-27 and 16-16 on the road, the finish mattered as much as the score. It was the sort of win that suggests more than a stray upset, especially against a division leader that had looked nearly untouchable in Truist Park.
The result also fit a bigger question around Washington’s trajectory. The Nationals have not played like a finished product, and Jake Irvin’s move to the 15-day injured list with a right shoulder strain only sharpened the pressure on the pitching staff. Irvin left the May 23 game in the sixth inning with shoulder tightness, and he is expected back in June. Even so, Washington found enough depth to survive Atlanta’s push and leave a scar on the Braves’ early-season aura.
Manager Blake Butera’s line carried the same tone of urgency. “We know we have to play really good baseball against this team.” For one afternoon, the Nationals did exactly that, and the win sent them on to Cleveland while Atlanta headed to Boston with its home series streak finally broken.
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