After whiffing on reliever Andrew Alvarez’s 85.1-mph slider in the seventh inning, Orioles star Gunnar Henderson threw his bat in frustration.

Henderson, who wears his emotion on his sleeve, knew he had wasted a prime scoring opportunity with runners on second and third.

With runners on first and second with two outs in the ninth inning, Henderson got his redemption with a single to bring the Orioles within a run against Richard Lovelady.

Lovelady walked Taylor Ward to load the bases before striking out Adley Rutschman to secure the Nationals’ 3-2 win over the Orioles on Friday night at Nationals Park.

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Zack Littell silenced the Orioles’ offense with five scoreless innings, allowing two hits and two walks with three strikeouts.

Littell’s peripheral numbers didn’t portend success against an Orioles team that reached deep in its pockets to add All-Star slugger Pete Alonso, but he induced enough weak contact consistently.

The Nationals struck first when Brady House’s fourth-inning sacrifice fly drove in CJ Abrams.

In the sixth, Curtis Mead drew a leadoff walk after a six-pitch at-bat against Shane Baz. Abrams flied out to center field for the first out. But, on a 0-1 count, Daylen Lile took Baz’s knuckle curveball low and out of the strike zone to right field for a two-run homer to extend the lead to 3-0.

Though the Nationals have surprised many by playing close to .500 ball, the club still feels it lets games slip through the cracks because it can’t get its pitching and hitting to click at the same time.

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Take Saturday’s Miami game, for example. The Nationals held a lead until the seventh inning and watched as the Marlins came back to lead by four runs in the eighth in an eventual Nationals loss. Washington’s offense didn’t put enough pressure on the Marlins’ pitching staff in Sunday’s 5-2 loss.

After Thursday’s 15-2 loss, starter Foster Griffin said he felt the team was close to putting it all together. Timely hitting, stout pitching and reliable defense were all key factors in Friday’s win. Sustaining that level, especially the pitching, will determine how the Nationals emerge from this 16-game stretch.

The bats have shown enough to prove that this can be a legitimate offense. The Nationals entered Friday second in runs (236), fourth in stolen bases (44) and seventh in weighted runs created plus (107).

Washington’s offense was the driving force behind the team’s series win against Cincinnati. But the pitching staff’s effectiveness, particularly that of the starters, remains a question mark.

Littell has strung together three impressive outings after he allowed 14 runs over a two-game stretch in April against the Braves and Giants. Over his last four appearances, he has posted a 1.75 ERA.

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What’s more significant than the run suppression is the length he gave the Nationals on Friday night. Manager Blake Butera said pregame how significant it was that the team used only two pitchers in Thursday’s 15-2 loss to the Reds.

Given the schedule and the Nationals’ use of six pitchers in Wednesday’s comeback win, using as few arms as possible over the next couple of days would be crucial to surviving this stretch.

This article will be updated.