Atlanta’s bullpen was unable to stick the landing, so they went back under .500 with tonight’s loss.

The Atlanta Braves ceded control of this one to the Washington Nationals late, as some bad bullpen work and some rough defense ended up ensuring that the Braves wouldn’t be going over .500 on this night. The Nationals got into this series with a 5-4 win over Atlanta.

The Nationals got on the board first in this one but it was also one of those times where Washington (or CJ Abrams in particular) was kicking themselves for not getting more than one run on the board in the first inning.

Abrams led off the game with a single, made it into scoring position after a HBP in the next at-bat and should’ve at least made it a close play at home plate on a single from James Wood.

Instead, Abrams inexplicably did a stutter step after crossing third base and that was enough to ensure that he ended up getting thrown out easily at home.

The Nationals did end up scoring on a productive out but Bryce Elder was likely breathing a sigh of relief that the Nationals only put one run on the board instead of anything more.

It didn’t take long for that one missing run to begin to loom large.

Once the third inning rolled around, Michael Harris II got Atlanta’s half of the inning going by hitting what appeared to be Money Mike’s fourth home run deposit of the season.

Instead, the ball inexplicably bounced on top of the concrete lining the brick wall in right field and back into play. Harris was understandably celebrating once he saw the ball hit the top of the wall and had to speed it up on his way to third in order to make sure he was at least safe.

The umpires ruled it a home run but eventually turned it into a triple after looking at it a replay.

Fortunately, Stuart Fairchild came through with a rare hit (a double that eluded the mitt of the diving Dylan Crews) in order to make sure that all’s well that ended well when it came to the Michael Harris II Home Run Saga of May 14, 2025.

On top of that, Fairchild wreaked havoc by stealing third and then making it home after Riley Adams uncorked a bad throw after an ill-advised attempt to catch Fairchild stealing.

Just like that, the Braves had turned the game around and CJ Abrams’ TOOTBLAN moment was already shaping up to be a big moment in this one.

The game got even weirder heading into the fourth inning. With two outs in the frame, Josh Bell hit a screamer out to right field that Fairchild played off the fence.

Fairchild’s throw was right on the money and it looked like Josh Bell would be out by a mile once Nick Allen laid down the tag.

The tag was anything but normal, as Josh Bell very nearly eluded Nick Allen in acrobatically bizarre fashion. Instead, Allen managed to tag Bell on one of his locs after Bell had lost his helmet during the course of the play, so the Braves ended up getting out of that one without sustaining any further damage.

The fifth inning continued the bizarre theme of this game.

With two on and one out in the fifth, Austin Riley hit a hot one up the middle that caught Nationals starter Mitchell Parker on his knee.

It looked painful watching it live and it ended up being painful enough to knock him out of the game in favor of Jackson Rutledge. The Braves ended up taking advantage of this unfortunate situation for Washington, as Marcell Ozuna hit a hard grounder that hit off the chalk and stayed fair for a two-RBI double that gave the Braves some breathing room at 4-1.

While this was all going on, Bryce Elder was busy having a quietly productive night on the mound.

The one run that Elder gave up in the first inning ended up being the only run he’d end up conceding on the night, as the Nationals just couldn’t figure out Elder and if they did happen to get on base, they usually got wiped out one way or another.

He’s now gone at least six innings in five of his past eight starts and while you could say a lot about Bryce Elder and his body of work, one thing you have to mention is that he’s gotten pretty good at eating these innings up and making sure that the bullpen isn’t as taxed on the nights where he’s on the bump.

Aaron Bummer got the ball for the seventh inning and this was one of those typical Aaron Bummer outings where some bad batted ball luck ended up turning into an overall bad situation for Bummer.

A single turned into Austin Riley making an error on a grounder and suddenly Bummer had to deal with two men on. Josh Bell grounded into a double play to give us all hope that maybe Bummer would end up getting away with it.

Folks, he didn’t get away with it — Dylan Crews made sure of that.

Crews plated a run with a single, stole second base and then made it home on a double from José Tena that brought the Nationals within one run and brought Aaron Bummer’s night to a close. Enyel De Los Santos made sure that the Braves stayed in front once the inning was done but we had ourselves a ballgame once again.

Enyel De Los Santos went out for the eighth inning and immediately walked CJ Abrams on four pitches to start off that frame, so it sure seemed like we were in for a tense eighth inning once that happened.

Those tense feelings immediately exacerbated when De Los Santos chucked his pickoff attempt into the Atlanta’s dugout, meaning that Abrams was awarded third base on the throw.

Amed Rosario brought Abrams home with a single to center that landed just in front of a diving Michael Harris II in order to tie it up without having even put an out on the board at this point in the inning.

It got worse for De Los Santos when James Wood hit a double to left field that easily plated Rosario and put the Nationals in front for the first time since the first inning.

That double was it for De Los Santos and Rafael Montero was given the ball hoping to put an end to the bullpen-induced madness. Fortunately, Montero was able to strand a runner at third base but it was still quite annoying that the Braves had to play from behind late in this one despite being in control during the early-and-middle portions of this contest.

The Magical Eighth Inning™ was not meant to be for the Braves in this one — despite Sean Murphy getting hit by a pitch, pinch-runner Luke Williams stealing second base and making it to third on a productive out, the Braves were unable to bring him home which meant that if the Braves were going to pull off the series win, it would have to come in walk-off fashion in the ninth inning.

Rafael Montero stayed on for the ninth and while he gave up a one-out double, he was able to leave Washington’s runner stranded at third in a potentially important development.

With Drake Baldwin leading off the ninth inning, the Braves had a decent enough trio of hitters set to face Kyle Finnegan with the game on the line.

Baldwin got things going by leading off with a single right up the middle, which eventually brought Marcell Ozuna to the plate as the potential winning run with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning on his own bobblehead night. Instead, Ozuna ended up popping out and the Nationals had themselves a come-from-behind win over the Braves.

Needless to say, this was a frustrating one for the Braves to drop.

You’d have to imagine that a three-run lead against an offense of this caliber this late in the game would be pretty hopefully of carrying the win on home. Instead, the Braves will now have to keep their wait to go over .500 going for at least a few days, as they’re now back below .500 after this tough loss.

They’ll quickly have a chance to return to .500 as tomorrow’s game starts at 12:15 p.m. ET. Play hooky with us, will you?