Nationals 9-5: Smith-Shawver's October case took a beating in D.C.

Seven in a row died Monday. Tuesday was worse. The Braves lost 9-5 in Washington, AJ Smith-Shawver put five on the board in four innings, and a Nationals rookie making his first big-league plate appearances went deep.

Atlanta is 82-57, still first in the NL East. The Phillies are 79-60, three back, winners of six straight. That math is fine until you remember who Atlanta plays this weekend.

Four innings, five runs, and a 7.13 ERA

Smith-Shawver is four starts into his return from Tommy John (June 2025, back July 29). This one: four innings, six hits, five earned, three walks, five strikeouts, 86 pitches (57 strikes). ERA for the four-start sample: 7.13.

The first inning was 19 pitches and a 97.5 mph heater. The second was the game. Harry Ford walked, Jorbit Vivas doubled, CJ Abrams singled in two, Dylan Crews walked, Brady House doubled in two more. 4-1. Ozzie Albies had just gone solo for his 21st homer. It lasted about five minutes.

Yohandy Morales, MLB debut, led off the third with his first hit — a home run. 5-2. Smith-Shawver got a 1-2-3 fourth on 13 pitches and was done.

"Obviously, I'm not thrilled with all the results," he said. "I gotta go get outs. I can't walk guys, can't get behind in counts... It's not very competitive." Asked if this month is about proving he's healthy or helping Atlanta clinch: "It's trying to win games."

Walt Weiss would not sketch a postseason role. "That's too far away. This is all day-to-day stuff with pretty much everything. We've got six starters. [Reynaldo] López working his way back... it'll be day-to-day with the rotation."

That is not a vote of confidence. It is a manager with options and a 23-year-old who has not forced the issue.

Debut night belonged to Washington. Atlanta's was quieter.

Morales finished with three hits. Jared Simpson, also debuting for the Nats, threw three no-hit innings of relief and got the win. Blake Burkhalter — Braves No. 15 prospect, September call-up — got the sixth in his first big-league appearance: one run, one hit, one walk, one strikeout, 23 pitches, fastball to 95.7. Weiss liked the stuff. The scoreboard still moved: Jacob Young, an Abrams walk, a House sac fly. 6-2.

Brent Suter's seventh added a pickoff error that scored Morales and a Young RBI single. 8-2. Suter stayed on for mop-up and Andrés Chaparro singled in another in the eighth.

Victor Mederos was the only Atlanta reliever who kept a zero. That is not how you treat a 67-74 club in September.

The eighth was the only inning that looked like August

Ha-Seong Kim went 3-for-3. Ronald Acuña Jr. scored on a Clayton Beeter wild pitch. Matt Olson doubled. Michael Harris II hit a two-run homer — 24th of the year — and it was 8-5 for a minute.

Harris has four homers and 10 RBIs with a 1.078 OPS over his last nine games. He is not the problem. The problem is the rest of the order spending five innings looking helpless against Jake Irvin and a Nats bullpen that was supposed to be the softest part of this series.

Drake Baldwin doubled in a run in the third with runners on second and third and nobody out. The next three made outs. In the fifth, Kim and Brewer Hicklen on with nobody out, Baldwin grounded into a double play. You do not come back from 5-2 that way.

Two losses, three games, then Philadelphia

Monday: Giants makeup, 7-3, Dylan Lee wondering if he's tipping. Tuesday: this. Grant Holmes was lined up for Wednesday's 1:05 p.m. finale. Then it is four games in Philadelphia against the team Harris correctly named as "right behind us."

"As long as we win games, we control our destiny," Harris said. True. Also true: Atlanta just played down to a last-place club two nights in a row, and the rotation depth that looked like an October asset in August now includes a 7.13 ERA and a manager talking day-to-day.

The homestand (Dodgers sweep, Rockies sweep, Olson's walk-off, Sale's shutout) is still the best week of the second half. The last 48 hours are the reminder that September does not care what you did last Thursday.

Bird Gang bottom line

Smith-Shawver has to get outs or he is a September inning-eater, not a postseason arm. Holmes needs to stop the bleeding this afternoon. If this series becomes 0-2 heading into Citizens Bank, the three-game lead is a rumor. Handle Washington. Then go prove it against the Phillies.

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