Nationals miss chance to sweep Giants, allow walk-off grand slam in finale

SAN FRANCISCO — They blew it.

The Washington Nationals were on the precipice of sweeping the San Francisco Giants. For the first time since 2019 — 938 regular-season games and nearly 2,500 long, long days — they had a chance to be three games over .500.

For the first time in forever, they were in the playoff hunt.

They led 9-1 entering the bottom of the eighth. That lead was trimmed to 10-6 by the top of the ninth. They had zero business letting the Giants claw anywhere back to even the brink, let alone all the way back in an 11-10 walk-off loss on Wednesday.

They did not even record an out in the ninth.

The Giants brought the tying run to the plate, then the winning run to the plate. Bryce Eldridge, a man who was born and raised in the D.C. area and idolized Nationals star Bryce Harper when he was still Nationals star Bryce Harper, delivered the closing blow with a walk-off grand slam.

He saw a 2-0 slider down the middle of the plate from Mitchell Parker. He connected, stopped and stared as Dylan Crews, the No. 2 pick in the same draft where Eldridge celebrated in a Virginia bar as he went 16th, tracked back and stood at the wall in right field.

It was the first time since May 25, 2009, that a team has trailed by at least eight runs entering the eighth inning and won, per MLB.com’s Sarah Langs.

Eldridge said the moment is something he dreamt of as a kid.

Parker said, “It feels like s—.”

The Giants found euphoria in a dismal season. The Nationals found dismay in a stretch that had otherwise been euphoric.

It was the Nationals’ largest blown lead in a loss since July 8, 2021, when they led the San Diego Padres by eight — also known as the “Daniel Camarena Game,” when a rookie reliever hit a grand slam off of Max Scherzer.

That was in the final weeks before this rebuild began; for many, that loss was the knell on a prosperous era of Nationals baseball.

This feels different.

The Nationals are on the upswing. A nearly silent clubhouse had a 4-2 record on the road trip to look back on. They still have a winning record in June, something they have not been able to say since 2021.

After the loss, manager Blake Butera addressed his team and told them this one should sting. It will probably be their worst loss of the year, Butera said, and one of the worst losses he has ever been a part of. And still.

“We’ve got to look at the positives,” Butera said. “This can happen, and at the end of the day, I want these guys to know we believe in each and every one of them.”

All five Nationals who spoke to media after the game — Foster Griffin, who tossed six sharp innings; Jacob Young, who was one of nine Nationals to record at least one hit; Paxton Schultz, who was the first man out of the bullpen, allowed five earned runs in the eighth and said he “did a terrible job” of setting the tone; and Butera and Parker — spoke of the need to flush this one. They also spoke of support.

“He’s a competitor, he should care,” Butera said of Parker. “I hope it is hard on him. I don’t think we have any guys in our clubhouse who are okay with the failure. I think that Mitch is going to want to ask questions and figure out what he needs to do to get better and make the adjustments to come back to pitching well, and our staff will be there to support him.”

The Nationals are going to try to pick Parker up from these depths, particularly with their on-field performance. But what follows on a plane ride that it feels like few of them will enjoy?

“We’re all pros here,” Griffin said. “We all understand. We’ve all been through it. This isn’t probably anybody’s first time giving up a lead or giving up runs or whatever it may be. Everybody has their unique way of learning how to deal with it, learn how to flush it, but that comes with encouragement from your teammates as well. It’s just a pat on the back to let them know that we’re here with you, but we’ll get them next time.”

There wasn’t an obvious personnel move that the Nationals could have made in this spot. Perhaps Butera could have left Orlando Ribalta in for a bit longer. There was some thought to letting Gus Varland (who entered in the ninth) finish the game, but the first two batters he faced smoked the ball, and then he walked Rafael Devers.

The Nationals do not have pitchers throw three days in a row, given the adverse effect it’ll have on an arm, which meant Richard Lovelady was unavailable as the club’s only other lefty.

This was not on game planning or any sort of larger physical toll, though those are all plot points to watch as the Nationals try to avoid spiraling. This is on execution, and perhaps a bit on how many lefties they have in the bullpen.

This is what the Nationals do not want their 2026 story to be — a historic offense, dispatched by its own pitching staff. This is an inflection point.

“Let yourself sulk, be mad, or angry, whatever you want to do while you’re in here,” Young said. “But once we leave, shut it off and accept that you had a great road trip. We’re going to play another tough team on Friday.”