The Washington Nationals now lead the National League with 53 walks to start the 2026 regular season.
For the second time this season, the Washington Nationals went to extra innings. And for the second time this season, the Washington Nationals fell by one run in ten innings. Both equally deflating losses for a Washington team now sitting 4-7 after dropping six of their last seven games.
The latest loss came on Tuesday night after the bullpen allowed five runs in the seventh inning and beyond, allowing the St. Louis Cardinals to mount the late game comeback at Nationals Park.
“It surprised me. I didn’t see it in spring training,” manager Blake Butera said postgame.
Both PJ Poulin and Gus Varland gave up home runs, while also walking their first batters faced, to set up the late comeback before Cole Henry gave up a pair of doubles in the top of the tenth inning for what proved to be the game-winning runs. Varland’s walk to open the eighth inning proved to be enough to get the game-tying run on before the Cardinals made him pay with a two-run home run two at bats later.
With ten walks given up on Tuesday, the Nationals now lead the NL in walks (53).
“It's hard to pitch to Major League hitters when you're working behind. I mean, just looking - ten walks is too many. You can't beat teams while walking ten people,” Butera said.
“[I] don't want to overreact to a guy having a rough outing, but also want to give other bullpen arms opportunities to earn leverage roles. And so it's a combination of both.”
It’s a deflating reality for the Nationals with a winning record within reach to open the 2026 regular season. The bad news? The loss took the shine off James Wood, who notched his third home run in as many days, and CJ Abrams, who has now hit safely in eight consecutive games.
Washington already entered the season with question marks with its pitching staff, and while has been a consistent bullpen, that extends to the starting rotation. Miles Mikolas is set to take the mound on Wednesday with his league leading 14.46 ERA. But for a Nationals team that has now watched three games flip from wins to losses in the seventh inning or later through just 11 games, how a young, unproven roster can rebound through the rest of April will be its biggest question.
And if not, how will president of baseball operations Paul Toboni address it?
“Yeah, it's a few times now where we've had leads late in games and just haven't been able to put teams away," Butera said.
The Nationals will look to salvage the series when the two teams meet on Wednesday with first pitch set for 4:05 PM.