Michael Harris II and the Braves light up Zack Littell and the Nationals in 8-6 win

WASHINGTON, DC - APRIL 22: Michael Harris II #23 of the Atlanta Braves hits a solo home in the third inning during the baseball game against the Washington Nationals at Nationals Park on April 22, 2026 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images) | Getty Images The Washington Nationals have continued to show that their offense is plenty potent at the moment. However, the Atlanta Braves were able to out-slug the Nationals in this one as two massive homers from Michael Harris II helped power Atlanta to an 8-6 win over the Nats.

The fireworks started early for both teams — though one team in particular has grown quite used to getting off to quick starts here in 2026. Zack Littell has proven to be a bit prone to giving up the long ball and the Braves wasted no time in continuing to pour on that particular punishment, as Drake Baldwin hit a deep fly to right-center to put the Braves on the board early. That solo homer ended up giving Didier Fuentes a chance to pitch with the lead.

It didn’t last long, as the Nationals jumped on Fuentes and made it a very long first frame back in the bigs for him. Once the Nationals got to two outs, it’s as if their lineup collectively remembered “Hey, we’re the highest-scoring team in baseball in the first inning, we should act like it,” and started mashing. Daylen Lile got a straight heater from Fuentes and crushed it for a three-run shot that put the Nationals ahead and then an RBI double from Jorbit Vivas made it a three-run lead for Washington.

The Nats now have 28 first-inning runs this season and it feels like just about half of them have come against the Braves in this series, alone! While this did end up being a short outing for Fuentes, the 20-year-old did a good job of making sure that it wasn’t a disastrous outing as well. Fuentes only pitched three innings but the youngster was able to pitch his way out of a one-out, bases-loaded jam by striking out José Tena and Keibert Ruiz to end the inning and snuff out the scoring threat.