In a game defined by the long ball, the Nationals fall 8-6 to the Braves

WASHINGTON — Zack Littell stood on the mound in disbelief, his hands frozen on his hips as if he were a statue. For the fourth time in as many innings Wednesday night, Littell watched as a ball landed over the wall and a Braves hitter circled the bases.

In a game defined by home runs, the Braves hit more than the Nationals as Washington fell 8-6 at Nationals Park. And Littell was largely responsible for the outcome.

He allowed eight runs, six earned, for his second straight outing. If there were any silver lining, it was that he retired the final seven batters he faced and completed six innings to preserve a taxed Nationals bullpen.

“I know it’s in there. I’ve done it for a long time now,” Littell said. “I’ve always kind of viewed development and year to year as we’re all kind of traveling the same way. It’s just sometimes we veer off a little bit too far, and it’s about correcting and getting back on the right path.”

With each homer, Littell looked more stunned than he did after the last.

Drake Baldwin’s first-inning solo homer resulted in a drop of his head. Littell watched stoically as Michael Harris’ second-inning, two-run homer clanked off the foul pole in right field. Harris’ second homer of the evening, a go-ahead solo shot in the third, led Littell to flip his glove in the air as if to signal: “What else can I do?”

Then came Matt Olson’s fourth-inning bomb, a three-run homer that landed in the Nationals’ bullpen. After standing frozen, Littell shook his head, then turned to receive the next baseball.

Littell allowed eight runs in his last outing as well, and there was a common theme in both starts: leaving pitches over the middle of the plate.

Against the Giants on Friday, Littell said, his biggest problem was hitter’s pitches in two-strike counts. Littell said Wednesday the Braves were aggressive in the strike zone in certain counts. He needs to recognize that and make adjustments.

“At the end of the day, it just seems like every mistake he makes is getting punished,” manager Blake Butera said. “We’ll make sure we help him through this. Zack’s a pro. He’s gonna be ready to go next time his turn rolls around, and we’ll get this right.”

Early on, the Nationals (11-14) seemed equipped to overcome Baldwin’s homer. Daylen Lile hit a three-run homer in the bottom of the frame. Jorbit Vivas added an RBI double.

The Nationals have scored 29 runs in the first inning — seven more than the next-best team. Butera credited his players for executing the game plan based on the team’s pregame prep work.

But the Braves (17-8) ensured that lead didn’t last long. Last season, Littell finished second in the major leagues with 36 home runs allowed, trailing only Jake Irvin. This season, he’s allowed 11 in 25 innings.

“It’s baseball,” Lile said. “We don’t need to change one thing at all. We’re doing everything we can as hitters, and we’re backing our pitchers up. As long as we’re staying positive ... the wins are going to come.”

The Nationals signed Littell to a one-year, $7 million deal with incentives that took the deal up to $9.5 million in March. The contract also included a $12 million mutual option for the 2027 season with a $4 million buyout.

With the late arrival to spring training, the Nationals knew it might take Littell time to get built up and find his rhythm. So far, his Nationals tenure hasn’t gone as well as he or the team hoped.

Making matters even more frustrating for Littell is that this is the best he’s felt physically on the mound in some time.

Littell isn’t a pitcher who typically generates swings and misses. But entering Wednesday’s contest he had a career-low whiff rate of 16.3%. On Wednesday, it was even worse — he generated only three whiffs in 49 swings (6%).

Through the first four innings, the Braves hit eight balls in play that were at least 100 mph. Littell, though, seemed to stay away from the heart of the plate in the final two frames, getting soft flyouts in the fifth and weak groundouts in the sixth.

“I don’t have a choice but to believe that I’m on the right path,” Littell said. “Sounds crazy, but there’s going to be things to take away from every night.

“Honestly, it’s hard to go through stuff like this, but sometimes the game just humbles you a little bit.”

Even with the team trailing 8-4 after the fourth inning, the Nationals’ bats kept responding. Joey Wiemer hit a pinch-hit solo homer in the sixth inning. James Wood launched his ninth homer of the season two batters later to cut the deficit to two runs.

Still, the Nationals’ loss was a stark reminder that, as well as their offense has performed, their pitching has left a lot to be desired.

By the end of Wednesday’s game, the Nationals ranked second in the majors in runs scored but first in runs allowed.

“Our pitchers, they’re just as frustrated as anybody,” Butera said. “They’re very well aware of the runs we’re scoring, and they want to go out there and limit it and let our offense do its thing and win some of these games that we should be winning.”

This article has been updated.