The Washington Nationals briefly tasted .500 baseball after winning the first two of three against the Baltimore Orioles. 

This is both their second consecutive series win and second consecutive home series win, after a rough start to the season at home. 

The Nationals have now won three straight series against the Orioles. 

Zack Littell would take to the mound for Friday's win. After struggling through April, Littell has strung together some clean starts. 

Littell would pitch five innings and allow only two hits and two walks. His pitching record improved to 2-4, and his ERA dropped to 6.10 following the win. 

Offensively, the Nationals would get on the board in the fourth inning after a sacrifice fly from Brady House that scored CJ Abrams. Daylen Lile got Abrams to third with a single. 

Lile would come up big again with a two-run home run in the sixth inning, extending the lead to 3-0. That was Lile’s seventh home run of the season, and fourth since the start of May.

Andrew Alvarez made his second appearance of the year out of the bullpen. He pitched cleanly through the eighth inning but struggled to open the ninth inning. Alvarez allowed a hit on the first pitch of the inning, before walking his next batter in four pitches. 

Gus Varland and Richard Lovelady would come in to clean up the mess, allowing two runs and stranding the bases loaded. 

Alvarez finished his outing with three innings pitched, three hits, a walk and five strikeouts. 

On Saturday, the Nationals had a chance to reach .500. They had lost the previous 15 times that they were a game below .500, but would break the curse with a dominant win that secured the series win.

Cade Cavalli took the mound in the win. He finished his start, pitching 6.1 innings with 8 hits, three earned runs, no walks and eight strikeouts. 

Endurance has been a problem for the Nationals’ ace, who has struggled to go deep in games throughout the season. He finished the first six innings scoreless on Tuesday, but would allow back-to-back home runs when he came out to pitch the seventh inning. He recorded an out and allowed an infield single before being pulled with 94 pitches. 

But the Nationals' offense got up to a 4-0 lead in the first three innings and wouldn’t let up. They would take the roof off the game with a seven-run seventh inning. 

Keibert Ruiz finished batting 3-for-5 with 5 RBIs and a home run. The home run was a three-run shot that put the Nationals on the board in the second inning. 

Jacob Young and House would also finish with a home run and three RBIs each. 

The Nationals would drop right back under .500 after a 7-3 loss on Sunday. Richard Lovelady would open for Miles Mikolas and would allow two earned runs in 1.1 innings pitched. Orioles’ Gunnar Henderson would start the game with a first-inning home run.

Mikolas inherited a runner on first base when he entered the game with one out in the second inning and allowed a two-run shot. He finished his outing, allowing four earned runs in 5.2 innings on the mound. 

Young would hit his second home run in back-to-back games in the second inning, and Ruiz brought Daylen Lile home on a sacrifice fly in the fourth inning. Despite that, the Nationals would be down 6-2 entering the fifth inning. 

Abrams would bring home James Wood with an RBI single, but the Nationals wouldn’t be able to climb back from the early deficit and would lose 7-3. 

The Nationals reached the .500 mark. The Nationals reached .500 through 46 games for the first time since 2021. 

This comes in the first year with the new President of Baseball Operations, Paul Toboni, and with a new manager, Blake Butera. This also happens after trading away the prior ace, Mackenzie Gore, to the Texas Rangers for prospects. 

It is encouraging to see these results as the team is clearly building towards the future. 

Offense is still dominating. Through 47 games, the Nationals lead the MLB with 255 runs scored. They are 11th in batting average, 12th in on-base percentage, 5th in slugging percentage and 6th in OPS. 

Even though the Nationals aren’t finding too much success in the win column, they have shown encouraging signs, especially on offense. 

Jacob Young keeps hitting home runs. Through 303 Major League appearances from 2023 to 2025, Jacob Young had hit five total home runs. Through 45 appearances in 2026, he has already hit five home runs.

Young has taken a big slugging leap in his fourth MLB season. He has shown he belongs in the lineup if he can continue to maintain this. 

Daylen Lile is doing it again. Daylen Lile finished the series batting 5-for-13 from the plate, with three RBIs and a home run. He was the leading offensive factor in Friday’s 3-2 win after going 3-for-4 with two RBIs and a home run.

Lile is batting .272 with seven home runs and an OPS of .781 to start 2026. After a good finish to the 2025 season, the 23-year-old has shown he can be a cornerstone for the franchise. 

Miles Mikolas’ struggles continue. Miles Mikolas started the season with four very poor starts and has since been better in shorter starts. But after finishing with four runs in 5.2 innings against the Orioles on Sunday, his shortcomings are once again front and center. 

Mikolas has a 6.91 ERA and a 1.48 WHIP through 41.2 innings pitched in 2026. It might be time to look elsewhere. Maybe a switch with 26-year-old Andrew Alvarez, who is currently pitching from the bullpen, could be appropriate.

The designated hitter spot. Throughout the season their hasn’t been any long-term designated hitter, with José Tena and Luis García Jr. taking the bulk of the starts throughout the season. 

But even with some good offensive production against the Orioles, the DH spot finished 0-11 in the series. Tena is now just 1-for-13 in the Nationals' last two series. 

The Nationals will now start a four-game home series against the Mets as they have a chance to climb over the .500 mark. The series begins Monday at 6:45 p.m.

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