Despite heartbreak, Nats find light in tough walk-off loss

ATLANTA -- Despite yet another loss to the Braves this season -- this time in a back-and-forth 11-inning affair at Truist Park -- there was little negativity in the Nationals’ clubhouse on Friday.

Yes, the Nationals (25-27) fell to another game under .500 as the Braves earned a 5-4 series-opening victory in walk-off fashion and Atlanta has won four of five games against Washington this season. But manager Blake Butera took away some positives while keeping the negatives in mind.

“It’s tough [to lose], just the way these guys battled [and] competed all night long,” Butera said. “Obviously against a really good team like that, to have them on the ropes, this one just hurts.”

Washington’s downfall on Friday was missed offensive opportunities. The Nationals went 1-for-13 with runners in scoring position and left 10 runners on base. Despite that, Georgia native CJ Abrams did some heavy lifting in his return to his home state as he went 2-for-5 with three RBIs, including a game-tying solo home run in the eighth and a go-ahead two-run in the 10th.

“We just couldn’t get that big hit with runners in scoring position again on back-to-back days,” Butera said. “[Abrams] was huge [with] a clutch home run and clutch [triple] there to knock in two runs in the 10th.”

Abrams’ 45 RBIs lead all Major League hitters.

From a pitching standpoint, Butera explained why he opted to use left-handed pitcher Richard Lovelady as an opener ahead of right-hander Miles Mikolas.

“[With] the left-handed bats at the top of their order -- I know [the Braves] changed a couple of things because of that -- but going off their last time facing a righty, they had most of the left-handers at the top [of the order],” Butera said.

For the first six-plus innings, the tactic worked against a Braves offense that has an MLB-leading .442 team slugging percentage, as the Nationals held Atlanta scoreless until the seventh.

Lovelady pitched a scoreless first inning before he gave way to Mikolas, who allowed just three hits over five scoreless innings in which he struck out three and did not issue a walk.

“I thought [Mikolas] threw the ball outstanding,” Butera said. “He did a great job for us. He gave us a chance to win there. I’m just happy with the way he’s thrown the ball lately and he continues to build on it.”

It was the first time this season Mikolas has gone five innings without an earned run.

“What I’ve been working on [is] sticking to what I do best and not trying to overthink it and keep things really simple,” Mikolas said. “I think it’s another step in the right direction.

Mikolas praised Washington’s pitching staff as a whole. The Nationals used seven pitchers. The bullpen did give up all five runs (three earned), but Mikolas said the final score didn’t tell the whole story.

The Nationals have played into extra innings three times in their last 10 games and are 1-2 in those contests. Washington is also in a stretch of 16 games in 16 days that started on May 12.

“I think you can look at [the frequent extra-inning games and late losses] two different ways,” Butera said. “You can look at it and get down and defeated or you can look at it as, ‘Man, we’re going through some pretty cool experiences with this group right now against some really good teams.’ To be able to play the way we did, these guys are getting some pretty valuable reps. … Not getting the win, it sucks. It really does. But we’re going to do everything we can to take these experiences and learn from them.”

“This is one of the most tooth-and-nail teams I’ve been on in a long time,” Mikolas said. “Our ability to really dig in and make it tough for teams to put us away and scrape back late and take a couple of games into extra innings, it’s been fun to be part of. I really believe we’re going to start coming out on top in some of these close games.”