5 Braves to blame for another depressing series loss to the Nationals

With a thrilling walk-off win against the Cleveland Guardians on April 28, the Atlanta Braves improved to 19-7 on the year. It felt as if they weren’t playing their best baseball yet they had not only the best record in the NL East but the best record in the majors. Since improving to 12 games over .500, things have only gone downhill for Atlanta.

Jun 6, 2024; Washington, District of Columbia, USA; Atlanta Braves third baseman Austin Riley (27) stands in the on deck circle prior to an at bat against the Washington Nationals during the eighth inning at Nationals Park. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports

The Braves went just 13-14 in the month of May which ended with a frustrating home series loss against the Washington Nationals. They had lost three of four against their NL East rivals at Truist Park. Atlanta bounced back to win three of their next five games but had another series against the Nats on the horizon.

Sure enough, Atlanta found a way to once again, lose three of four to Washington. This is especially disappointing because they won the opener of the series before dropping each of the next three games. Atlanta is now 35-28 which isn’t bad, but they’re just 16-20 after their hot start. It’s not quite panic time yet, but things certainly aren’t going in Atlanta’s favor right now.

Just about the entire team deserves some sort of blame for the team losing yet another four-game series against the 30-35 Nationals, but these five players in particular deserve the lion’s share of it.

5. Sean Murphy has gotten off to a rough start since returning from the IL

Sean Murphy suffered an oblique injury on Opening Day, knocking him out of action for almost two full months. He returned at the end of May and simply hasn’t looked like the same guy since.

Murphy replaced Travis d’Arnaud as the team’s starter but did just about nothing in this series. The 29-year-old came to the plate 12 times and recorded just one skinny hit. To his credit, that hit did go over the fence for a home run, but it came in a game in which Atlanta was trailing 7-2 in the seventh inning. They’d lose that contest with a final score of 7-3.

To make matters worse, Murphy committed a throwing error in the second game of the series, allowing CJ Abrams to score and Nick Senzel to swipe second. There’s a chance Senzel would’ve beaten Murphy’s throw even if it was on target, but we’ll never know. Senzel wound up scoring soon after, and the Braves lost that game 2-1. Murphy going hitless in his four at-bats with a pair of strikeouts didn’t help things either.