The Nationals, for the second time this week, have dropped a heartbreaking extra-innings game against a division rival. Just like Monday night, the Nats had numerous opportunities to put this game away and in the win column, but could not get the job done.

Interestingly enough, considering it was a hard loss, there were plenty of positives to hang our hats on tonight. Miles Mikolas did an excellent job with potentially a rotation spot on the line, tossing five scoreless innings. CJ Abrams was magnificent, coming up with a clutch homer in the eighth and a huge two-run triple in the tenth in front of a full contingent of his family and friends. The negatives? Same as usual. The Nationals’ bullpen just isn’t good at all, and the bottom of their batting order just might be worse.

The Action

There was nothing to report on in terms of scoring in the first five innings of this game, as Bryce Elder dueled a combination of Richard Lovelady and Miles Mikolas for five innings, neither side blinking. There were chances every now and then; the Nats did put a runner on second base in three of those first five frames, Atlanta just one. But those opportunities were all for naught as Elder wormed out of it every time.

That was until the sixth inning. Curtis Mead, batting third despite the tough matchup against a good righty, worked a six-pitch at-bat, and on the sixth offering he unloaded on a ball, sending it to the seats in left field to make it 1-0 Washington.

The lead held too, as Mikolas worked around a two-out single in the bottom of the sixth and managed to throw up his fifth consecutive zero in as many innings of work in what was by far his best outing as a Nat.

• Miles Mikolas: 5 innings, 3 hits, 0 runs, 0 walks, 3 strikeouts, 66 pitches
• Bryce Elder: 6 innings, 5 hits, 1 run (1 earned), 1 walk, 4 strikeouts, 87 pitches

The trouble for Washington came in the bottom of the seventh, as Mitchell Parker was thrown into yet another high-leverage situation in relief of Mikolas. I think we’re seeing that Parker is not the guy we can trust late in these close games, and tonight was further evidence of that. After retiring the leadoff batter, Parker allowed a single, a walk, a single, and another single, the last two being RBI hits by Dom Smith and Ha-Seong Kim. Parker would end the inning without further damage, but it was enough to give the Braves a 2-1 lead headed to the eighth inning.

It was there that CJ Abrams, in front of family and friends in his home state of Georgia, continued the torrid stretch he’s been on lately. Swinging 3-0 against a 99 miles per hour fastball from Robert Suarez, Abrams’ gamble paid off as he launched the pitch 405 feet into the right field seats to tie this game up at two.

The Nationals got a scoreless eighth from Clayton Beeter, who looked much sharper in his second outing off the IL than he did yesterday. Beeter struck out Mauricio Dubon and Matt Olson before getting Ozzie Albies to ground out, ending the frame and sending the tie game into the ninth inning.

Gus Varland flirted with disaster as the Braves put the winning run on second in the ninth, but Varland maneuvered his way out of the inning safely, and this game was headed to extras. The tenth inning started with a walk by Andres Chaparro, putting men on first and second with nobody out, but Curtis Mead popped one up to put the Nats in serious danger of not scoring. That danger was immediately thrown out the window, as CJ Abrams came up huge again, this time lining one down the right field line that would score both runners and send Abrams all the way to third base with a go-ahead two-run triple to put the Nats ahead 4-2. The chance to add on another run was a great one, with CJ on third with one out, but the Nationals couldn’t do it, and that would prove to be huge very quickly.

Blake Butera, running low on bullpen options, went to Orlando Ribalta to try to hold the two-run lead and give the Nationals a huge game one victory. That did not happen. Chadwick Tromp, batting ninth in this one, led off the inning with a single to center, scoring the ghost runner, Kim. Ribalta followed by walking Ronald Acuna and allowing a single to Dubon, which tied the ballgame up. So now we had a 4-4 ballgame with men on first and second and still nobody out. The winning run was pushed to third on a flyout by Matt Olson, which led to a walk to Ozzie Albies to load the bases and give forces at every base. Ribalta then came up huge, getting Michael Harris to pop up and Eli White to ground out, sending this game flying into the eleventh inning.

Tyler Kinley pitched the 11th for Atlanta, and the bottom of the Washington order just made it way too easy on him. Jorbit Vivas struck out swinging on a slider that was right on the heart of the plate, Drew Millas was retired on a pop-up down the right field line, and Nasim Nunez watched two center-cut sliders go by before swinging at one in the dirt to end the inning with the Nationals failing to push a single run across.

Paxton Schultz got the impossible task of having to keep the ghost runner from scoring in the bottom of the inning, and came painfully close to doing so. He first got Dom Smith to fly out, then struck out Kim, and finally, all that separated the Nats from surviving to the 12th inning was Chadwick Tromp. The Braves’ third string catcher had already bitten the Nationals with one clutch RBI single in this game, and with two outs and a 2-2 count, he did it again. A ball that just had too much plate was lined hard into center field, where Jacob Young Dylan Crews gloved it literally as the base runner touched third base, seemingly plenty of time to hose him at the plate. Unfortunately Young Crews unleashed about a seven-hopper to the plate that didn’t even make it to the pitcher’s mound in the air, giving the Nats no chance to cut down Eli White at home, and handing the scrappy Nats their second brutal extra-innings loss of the week.

What’s Next?

The teams will play game two of this series tomorrow afternoon at 4:10. The Nationals, with tonight’s loss, have fallen two games below.500, despite multiple opportunities in the past week to eclipse that seemingly Everest-tall peak. A loss tomorrow would drastically diminish their odds of getting back to that point, while a win would leave them once again one game from .500. Washington will send Jake Irvin (1-4, 5.79 ERA) to the hill, fresh off of a strong outing on Monday night against the Mets, and he’ll be opposed by the right-handed hair icon, Grant Holmes (3-1, 3.80 ERA).

Down on the Farm

AAA Rochester

• 12-1 win tonight at Worcester
• Holden Powell: 2.2 innings, 2 hits, 1 run, 3 walks, 2 strikeouts (3.00 ERA)
• Jack Sinclair: 2 innings, 0 hits, 0 runs, 0 walks, 2 strikeouts (4.43 ERA)
• Luke Young: 1.1 innings, 0 hits, 0 runs, 1 walk, 1 strikeout (3.60 ERA)
• PJ Poulin: 1 inning, 0 hits, 0 runs, 1 walk, 0 strikeouts
• Christian Franklin: 2-5, double, walk (.275 BA, .760 OPS)
• Harry Ford: 2-5, 2 doubles, RBI, walk (.209 BA, .606 OPS)
• YoYo Morales: 3-5, double, 2 RBIs, walk (.352 BA, 1.032 OPS)
• Brady House: 4-6, double, 3 RBIs (.400 BA, .955 OPS)
• Abi Ortiz: 2-5, 2 home runs (6), 5 RBIs, walk (.233 BA, .796 OPS)
• Andrew Pinckney: 2-4, home run (6), RBI, walk (.270 BA, .797 OPS)
• Seaver King: 0-4, walk (.333 BA, .888 OPS)
• Trey Lipscomb: 1-5, double (.233 BA, .742 OPS)
• Tomorrow: 4:05 game at Worcester (Jackson Kent pitching)

AA Harrisburg

• Game postponed today due to weather
• Tomorrow: 7:00 game versus Akron (Starter TBA)

High-A Wilmington

• Doubleheader today versus Jersey Shore
• 4-2 loss in game one
• Gavin Bruni: 1.2 innings, 2 hits, 4 runs, 4 walks, 1 strikeout (6.23 ERA)
• Austin Amaral: 2 innings, 0 hits, 0 runs, 2 walks, 2 strikeouts (4.50 ERA)
• Merrick Baldo: 2 innings, 3 hits, 0 runs, 0 walks, 2 strikeouts (5.23 ERA)
• Yeremy Cabrera: 1-2, walk (.214 BA, .563 OPS)
• Angel Feliz: 1-2, walk (.245 BA, .708 OPS)
• TJ White: 1-2, RBI, walk (.262 BA, .876 OPS)
• 1-0 win in game two
• Riley Maddox: 6 innings, 3 hits, 0 runs, 2 walks, 5 strikeouts (4.57 ERA)
• Baron Stuart: 1 inning, 0 hits, 0 runs, 1 walk, 2 strikeouts (1st save, 9.35 ERA)
• Angel Feliz: 1-3, double (.247 BA, .714 OPS)
• Hunter Hines: 1-2, double (.181 BA, .565 OPS)
• Tomorrow: 6:05 game versus Jersey Shore (Josh Randall pitching)

Low-A Fredericksburg

• 7-5 loss tonight at Fayetteville
• Mikey Tepper: 2.1 innings, 4 hits, 1 run, 1 walk, 4 strikeouts (2.25 ERA)
• Gavin Fien: 2-5, RBI (.216 BA, .692 OPS)
• Coy James: 2-5, 3 RBIs (.207 BA, .713 OPS)
• Rafael Ramirez: 2-3, double, RBI, walk (.278 BA, .904 OPS)
• Tomorrow: 7:05 game at Fayetteville (Miguel Sime pitching)