The Washington Nationals finally got back into the win column on Saturday night in a much-needed way. The team had come in to the game after losing 7 of 9 overall, and had seen their record drop to below .500 for the first time in what felt like a long time.
Fortunately for the Nationals, that all changed on Saturday night, as the team's 4-3 victory proved that they can still find ways to win ugly. Despite the victory, however, the Nationals showed some very clear warts that must be ironed out of this team has any goals or intentions of playing meaningful baseball beyond August.
Nationals bullpen blows another save in extra-innings victory
The main takeaway from Saturday night is that the bullpen of the 2026 Washington Nationals is officially a nightmare. At this point, with the way the Nationals bullpen is trending, anyone reading this sentence right now might be pitching for the team within the coming days. Moves need to be made, yet we are continuing to see that the front office is hesitant to do anything drastic.
While that is another story and headline to talk about at another time, the Nationals are at least able to take some positive things away from this particular game. For starters (literally), lefty Foster Griffin continued to demonstrate to the rest of the league why he is not only an All-Star candidate but also an emerging candidate for National League Rookie of the Year, although competition will be stiff.
In a game where the Nationals needed Griffin to have his best stuff, he came through like has all season long, lowering his ERA to 2.93 and WHIP to 1.04 on the year. Griffin should have recorded his 9th win, but the bullpen blew another save opportunity, leaving the lefty with a no decision.
Thankfully, after a Daylen Lile RBI single in extra innings drove in Dylan Crews, the Nationals were able to hang on to their lead in the 9th, although things were certainly made interesting. Justin Lawrence, who was just claimed off waivers a mere few days ago, secured his first save in his first appearance for the Nationals. He became the first Nationals pitcher to record a save in their team debut since Sean Doolittle, but Lawrence made things interesting.
Overall, we will see if the Nationals can continue their momentum into Sunday's series finale in Baltimore, but at the very least, it's encouraging that the team still showed the same fight they've showed all season long. At some point, however, the bullpen issues are going to continue to cost this team important victories.
What did you think of Justin Lawrence's Nationals debut and the victory for the team overall? As always, please let me know on X, @DCBerk.
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