The Washington Nationals continue to struggle at home after dropping three of four against the Atlanta Braves. The Nationals now sit at 11-15 and are seven games behind the Braves atop the NL East. 

Pitching was once again the big story for the Nationals as they allowed over seven runs in all three of their losses. 

To start the series on Monday, the Nationals allowed a five-run sixth inning to put away their chances. They would end up losing to the Braves, 9-4. 

Jake Irvin made the start on the mound, pitching five innings and allowing four runs on three hits and two hit-by-pitches. 

Irvin was taken out of the game in the fifth inning after the first two batters he faced reached base. PJ Poulin and Brad Lord would pitch the rest of the inning and allowed five runs.  

The Nationals' offense would score four runs on only three hits. Daylen Lile hit his second home run of the season and Jacob Young finished with two runs batted in. 

The Nationals would bounce back with their only win of the series on Tuesday. Foster Griffin pitched six innings in his start, where he would allow only three earned runs. Gus Varland, Cionel Perez and Clayton Beeter pitched one inning each out of the bullpen and allowed only one run to help secure the Nationals' win. 

The Nationals’ batting was also on fire in Tuesday's win. James Wood finished 1-for-2 with a home run and four walks. Luis García Jr. finished the game 4-of-5 with three RBIs. Curtis Mead would add a three-run home run in the eighth inning as the Nationals went on to win 11-4. 

After the game, the Nationals lead the MLB in total runs scored. They would lose that title to the Braves after losses on Wednesday and Thursday.

The Nationals started Thursday’s 8-6 loss with a four-run first inning. Lile hit a three-run home run, and Jorbit Vivas brought him home with a double. That was Lile’s third home run of the season and his third home run of the home stretch. 

The lead would be erased in the top of the second after Zack Littell allowed four hits and three runs. 

Littell would finish his six innings on the mound with seven hits, two walks and eight earned runs. He allowed four home runs in that time. He entered Thursday’s loss already leading the MLB in home runs allowed. He now has a three-home run lead in first place. 

Joey Wiemer and Wood would add home runs of their own in the bottom of the sixth inning, but the bats would run dry and the Nationals' batting wouldn’t be enough to overcome Littell’s eight runs allowed. 

Wood would hit another solo home run to lead off Friday’s loss. The Braves brought up JR Ritchie for his MLB debut. Although Wood took his first pitch to the moon, Ritchie gave the Nationals trouble. 

He finished his debut allowing five hits, two walks and two earned runs in seven innings. CJ Abrams would hit his seventh home run of the season in the fourth inning as well, but that would be all that the Nationals could produce on offense.

Cade Cavalli made the start for the Nationals. He would only get through five innings before getting pulled with 83 pitches thrown. He allowed seven hits and two earned runs, but had 10 strikeouts in the meantime. 

What has started to feel like a trend, the Nationals' bullpen wouldn’t be able to keep the game close. Cionel Pérez and Gus Varland allowed four runs in the seventh inning, and Julian Fernández allowed a home run in the ninth. 

James Wood is dominating. Wood finished the series with three home runs and got on base in 10 of his 19 at-bats. Wood is now batting .288/.441/.675 with a 1.116 OPS and 9 home runs in the month of April. 

Daylen Lile has caught fire. Lile batted 5-for-13 with four walks in the series, and he is now up to a .295 batting average on the season. But what is most impressive from the series is that Lile has found some power. He had two home runs against the Braves and now has three home runs in his last six games. 

Another rough home stretch. The Nationals are now four games below .500 and have continued to struggle at home. The Giants were one of the easiest teams the Nationals have faced in the 2026 season, and they found a way to lose that series. 

In comparison, the Braves are one of the best teams in baseball, but the Nationals had a chance to split the series on Thursday, but surrendered eight runs from their starting pitcher and couldn’t score in the final three innings. 

The pitching rotation continues to be inconsistent. Littell has now allowed eight runs in both of his last two starts. Miles Mikolas still holds an ERA of 9.15, even after a couple of cleaner starts. Irvin and Cavalli have both been just fine on the mound besides a rough start for each of them, but neither of them are going deep into games. 

Irvin hasn’t pitched past 5.0 innings once this season, and Cavalli has only reached 5.0 innings pitched in two games. He went 6.0 innings against the Phillies and 5.0 on Thursday’s loss. With how the bullpen has looked through the Nationals' first 26 games this season, it cannot be trusted with such an overtuned work load. 

The bullpen isn’t seeing any improvement. In both Monday's and Thursday’s losses, the bullpen entered the game with the Nationals in a good spot and pitched, allowing big innings that sunk them. So far, there just hasn’t been any consistency from the members of the bullpen. 

Brad Lord, PJ Poulin and Cionel Pérez have seen the most use out of the bullpen for the Nationals, and all of them have contributed to back-breaking innings against the Braves. 

The Nationals continue to be one of the worst pitching teams in the league. They currently hold the second-highest ERA, below the Houston Astros. Something needs to be done soon, or the Nationals' season will continue to tank because of it. 

The Nationals will now move on to the Chicago White Sox, where they will have a chance to break a two-series losing streak. The series in Chicago begins Friday, April 24th at 7:40 p.m.