Nats' late rally goes for naught in 8-5 loss to Braves (updated)

For the sixth straight game, the Nationals mounted a furious comeback, erasing a 5-1 deficit by scoring four times in the seventh to give themselves new life in the opener of their series against the Braves in Atlanta.

Yadiel Hernandez's three-run homer in the seventh knotted the score at 5-5, but switch-hitter Ozzie Albies, hitting right-handed against righty Ryne Harper in the bottom of the frame, hit a two-run homer as the Braves recorded an 8-5 victory on Tuesday night.

Harper started the bottom of the seventh by issuing a leadoff walk to Eddie Rosario, inserted into the game in the previous half-inning in the nine-hole as part of a double-switch. Unable to locate his curveball, Harper tried to sneak a 3-1 bender by Albies, who muscled up and deposited his 27th homer of the season over the wall in left-center. After the blast, Harper allowed a double to left by Jorge Soler, and was replaced by Alberto Baldonado.

Albies finished with four RBIs and has homered in four straight games for the National League East-leading Braves, who have won 13 of 17 over the Nationals this season. The loss left the Nats tied with the Marlins for fourth place in the division.

Manager Davey Martinez once again lamented starting pitching that yielded an early lead after the Nationals went ahead 1-0.

"We gotta kinda get ahead," Martinez said in his postgame Zoom session with reporters. "Our starting pitching's gotta pitch a little better, keep us in ballgames. We're always coming back, and it's tough to really come back every day. We gotta get a little bit more from our starting pitchers and keep us close. When we do that, we end up winning ballgames. Can't spot a team five runs and come back and sustain that every day."

Washington jumped to a 1-0 lead off lefty Max Fried, but failed to score in the next four innings, when they had men on base in every frame and a runner in scoring position with one out in the second, fourth and fifth innings.

Nationals right-hander Paolo Espino worked five innings, allowing five runs on seven hits with two walks. His seven strikeouts matched a career high.

"I think it was definitely a tough outing," said Espino. "I don't think it was great. I mean, I think I kept the team in there, but I make a few mistakes (and) they didn't go well."

Carter Kieboom's RBI single in the first staked the Nats to a 1-0 lead, but the edge was short-lived. Adam Duvall blasted a three-run home run, his 32nd of the season, with two down in the bottom half to put the Braves ahead 3-1.

Espino tried to get a curveball in the dirt he hoped Duvall would chase. Instead, the pitch turned into a floater he could hammer.

"That was a really, really bad curveball in a situation where I should have made a lot better pitch," Espino said. "I just left it up in the zone and he took advantage of it."

Travis d'Arnaud made it 4-1 in the second, doubling past a diving Lane Thomas in center field to score Freddie Freeman, who doubled with one out. A perfect relay from Thomas to second baseman Luis García to catcher Riley Adams nabbed Duvall at the plate.

A sacrifice fly by Albies bumped the advantage to 5-1 in the fourth. Dansby Swanson led off with a single to center, went to third on Joc Pederson's single to center and scored on Albies' fly ball to Thomas.

The Nats seemed to have Fried on the ropes in the fifth, when Juan Soto reached on a one-out infield single and Josh Bell walked. But Kieboom bounced into a fielder's choice, with Bell erased at second, and was then picked off first to end the threat.

Fried departed after six innings, having allowed a run on six hits, and the Nats finally got the offense in gear off reliever Tyler Matzek in the seventh.

Thomas drew a leadoff walk, went to third on an Alcides Escobar single and scored on Soto's line drive single to right. Bell and Kieboom flew out, but Hernandez drove Matzek's first pitch into the first row of the stands in left-center for a game-tying three-run homer.

Hernandez jumped on a ball up and out of the zone, driving it to the opposite field to knot the score with another lefty-on-lefty hit. Hernandez also doubled off Fried in the second and is now 18-for-56 (.321) off southpaws this season.

"I was looking for a fastball. He's a reliever that throws a lot of fastballs," Hernandez said via interpreter Octavio Martinez. "So I was gonna jump on the (first) fastball I saw. I was able to make really good contact and I just reacted to it."

After putting the Braves ahead in the seventh, Albies drove in his fourth run of the night on an RBI single in the ninth for a three-run cushion.

Will Smith worked the ninth for his 31st save.