Nationals win the late innings to beat Braves (updated)

The Nationals hadn't been in very many games like this in 2021. Back-and-forth affairs with late-night swings of leads and emotions were the norm during their championship run in 2019 and also were a regular occurrence during their disappointing 2020 season.

This year? Most games saw one team take an early lead and hold it late, with very little late drama. That made tonight's contest down in Atlanta feel like some kind of blast from the past. An old-fashioned, tension-filled showdown with a division rival that saw both the Nationals and Braves experience dizzying highs and terrifying lows over the final few innings before a crowd of 32,752.

And when the Nats emerged victorious by a margin of 5-3, it felt like an especially hard-earned win, nothing like the blowout they enjoyed the previous night at Truist Park.

"It's fun, man," reliever Daniel Hudson, who was smack dab in the middle of some of the biggest moments, said during a postgame Zoom session with reporters. "These games, these situations, are fun. Inter-division. Full capacity. We haven't had that since 2019. There was a lot of energy in this stadium. It was a lot of fun."

Yan Gomes' solo homer in the eighth broke a tie game and provided the margin of victory, a 426-foot shot to left-center off Braves reliever A.J. Minter.

"It's going to sound strange, but kind of try not to overdo it," Gomes said of his approach in that moment. "Then when you see a pitch up, or you guess right, try to take a good swing at it."

Asked if he guessed at Minter's 2-2 cutter, the veteran catcher replied with a laugh: "No. If it's a guess, it's an educated guess."

Gomes' fifth home run of the season was necessary because Tanner Rainey and Hudson combined to give up the two runs that tied the game in a harrowing bottom of the seventh. Rainey, who allowed a leadoff double down the left field line to Abraham Almonte that left Kyle Schwarber limping after his right knee locked up on him, bounced back to strike out both Pablo Sandoval and Ronald Acuña Jr. and bring himself to the cusp of escaping the inning.

But after walking Freddie Freeman, Rainey was pulled in favor of Hudson, the bullpen workhorse who is beginning to show signs of cracking over the last week, either from a regression to the mean, from extensive usage or from some combination of the two. And Ozzie Albies' subsequent two-run double to the gap in right-center was the latest evidence.

"You're a guy that, when situations arise, we want you in the game," Martinez said of Hudson, his highest-leverage reliever. "He's done it before. I know when we got him (in 2019), he was really good with inherited runners. He's that guy that we count on. If he would've told me that he didn't feel right today ... but he said he was good for anything tonight."

Gomes' homer in the top of the eighth gave Hudson the opportunity to re-take the mound for the bottom of the inning with another chance to hold a lead. And this time he did, retiring the side with a pair of strikeouts to send the game to the ninth.

"I kind of figured, just the way the game was playing out, that the middle of the order was coming up, and I'd probably cover Tanner in the seventh inning," Hudson said. "And if that was the case, I'd probably go back out for the eighth. Luckily, I only threw six pitches in the seventh, and I was able to have a clean eighth. The way that game was playing out, I was kind of figuring it was going to be a one-plus deal."

Add a key insurance run made possible when Victor Robles was hit by a pitch, stole second and scored on Trea Turner's single up the middle, and Brad Hand actually had a little cushion when he emerged from the bullpen for the bottom of the ninth. The veteran closer, who looked shaky Tuesday, finished this one off for his ninth save in 11 opportunities, securing his team's second straight win on the heels of a five-game losing streak.

"Those are the kind of games that are going to come up when we start playing in late August and September," Gomes said. "These kind of games prep us for it. I'll tell you, having fans in the stands and having that full crowd cheering you, booing you, it definitely gets those feelings back of how baseball was before all this."

The late fireworks spoiled what should've been the feel-good story of the night: Jon Lester's gutsy effort on short rest.

The Nationals found themselves in this situation, needing Lester to pitch only four days after he last took the mound, because of Saturday's doubleheader against the Brewers, a lack of off-days since then and the fact Erick Fedde still needs to make a rehab start before he's ready to return from the COVID-19 injured list. The 37-year-old lefty, who threw 74 pitches over four-plus innings Saturday night, didn't hesitate in offering to do it for the fourth time in his career, though only the second time in the last decade.

"I said: Hey, if we're gonna do this, I don't want to be on a pitch count," he said. "That was a big thing. And obviously, the last start helped be ready for this start. It wasn't a huge workload day. I think if I'm coming in here off 100-some pitches, it's a different scenario coming in."

For three innings, Lester flirted with danger. He put the leadoff man on base in each frame, including a leadoff homer by Dansby Swanson in the bottom of the second, but came through when he needed to: The Braves were 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position during those three innings.

And then, bucking a recent career trend that had seen him tend to fade as he reached the middle innings, Lester got better as the night progressed. He retired the side in the fourth on seven pitches. He retired the side in the fifth on 15 pitches, striking out Acuña and Freddie Freeman in succession. And when he retired the first two batters he faced in the sixth, it looked like the veteran might just finish his night on a real high note.

Alas, Lester turned an 0-2 count to Ehire Adrianza into a two-out walk, so Martinez walked to the mound and, after a short conversation, asked his starter for the ball. Lester looked disappointed, but there was no denying he gave the Nationals everything they could've reasonably asked under the circumstances.

In his three previous career starts on short rest, Lester had averaged 5 1/3 innings, 92 pitches and a 4.02 ERA. Tonight, he threw 5 2/3 innings and 87 pitches with a 1.59 ERA.

"He gave us everything we needed," Martinez said.

And he departed in line for his first win as a National, thanks to three runs of support that included another big blast by a suddenly surging slugger.

After taking a 1-0 lead in the second on back-to-back-to-back singles by Gomes, Schwarber and Starlin Castro, the Nationals turned to Juan Soto for some power in the fifth. He ripped an 0-2 fastball from left-hander Drew Smyly 437 feet to left-center for his second homer to that precise location in 24 hours.

At that point, Soto for the series was 5-for-8 with two homers, six RBIs, four walks and renewed reason to believe he's back in business after an uncharacteristic power slump in May.

"He's really on time," Martinez said. "And I'm just watching where his contact point is, and it's right where it needs to be. Hopefully, he stays that way. He's in a good spot right now."