11-4 walloping in Washington wrecks Braves’ win streak

WASHINGTON, DC - APRIL 21: Starting pitcher Reynaldo Lopez #40 of the Atlanta Braves is pulled by manager Walt Weiss #22 in the second inning against the Washington Nationals at Nationals Park on April 121, 2026 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Jamie Sabau/Getty Images) | Getty Images On April 21, 2024, the Braves began the day with a six-game winning streak. It ended in fairly routine fashion: the Braves took an early 3-0 lead over the Rangers, but Darius Vines couldn’t prop it up, and they lost, 6-4.

That was the last time (before now) the Braves had a winning streak of six games or more when the wins actually mattered. On April 21, 2026, the Braves also began the day with a six-game winning streak. This one ended in far more ignominious fashion, as the pitching (and defense) had a horrific day en route to an 11-4 walloping at the hands of the Washington Nationals.

Though many Braves arms struggled in this one, Reynaldo Lopez set the tone, or whatever the correct idiom is for being horrendous out of the gate. When Bryce Elder struggled early in the series opener on Monday night, it was attributed to a mechanics deficiency associated with the cold weather, and, perhaps, the dreaded “road pitcher first inning penalty” associated with a starter warming up and then having to sit before going back out and pitching. I don’t know if either of those two reasons applied to Lopez tonight, but either way, it was just terrible.

Lopez’ first pitch of the night was a sub-89 mph “fastball,” and that was only the beginning of his issues. For the entirety of that inning, his pitches were either nowhere near the zone, or basically right down the middle. Walk-single-single plated the first run, then there was another walk, then a run-scoring walk on five pitches that all missed the zone, and then a bloop hit to make it 3-0.