For a franchise that was established in 1969, it takes some doing to go 57 seasons before breaking a record for late-game blown leads. That’s what the otherwise over-achieving 2026 Washington Nationals did on June 10 in San Francisco.
With 10 runs in the last two at-bats – scoring five in the ninth without even using any of their three outs – the Giants inflicted the worst loss in Expos or Nationals history with either of those team ahead, leading by eight or more runs, entering the eighth inning.
The Giants were down, 9-1, when they came to bat in the eighth. Out for a second inning of relief, righty Paxton Schultz was charged with five runs, including two homers. The Nats got one back in the top of the ninth to make it 10-6. Another righty, Gus Varland, came in to try to get the last three outs. He got none.
Manager Blake Butera (right) lifted Varland after he faced three batters. A lead-off single was followed by Matt Chapman’s RBI double; then a walk.
Butara’s three most reliable relievers weren’t available. Brad Lord had thrown 59 pitches over multiple innings the day before. Richard Loveland and Clayton Beeter had pitched two days in a row.
Lefty Mitchell Parker, a starter-turned-reliever, came in to face the hot-hitting but lefty-batting Jung Hoo Lee. He lined a single to short left, loading the bases for rookie Bryce Eldridge, a lefty batter who grew up in the D.C. suburbs rooting for the Nationals. After missing with two sliders, Parked tried again but left it hanging. Eldridge hit over the right-field wall, making him the youngest player ever to hit a walk-off grand slam to win a game by a run.
In the opening game of this series against the Giants, the Nats went to the ninth behind 3-1 before scoring three runs for their first ninth-inning comeback victory of the season.
Just seven seasons ago, the Nationals scored their biggest ninth-inning comeback by scoring seven against the Mets in the bottom of the ninth. The Mets had scored five in the top of the inning. That happened on Sept. 3, 2019, as Washington was on its way to wild-card berth and an eventual World Series win.
Coincidentally, the 2026 Nationals were on the cusp of moving three games over .500 for the first time since the 2019 season, but instead they boarded a flight home after a devastating loss. Yet they had still won two out of three from the Rockies, Padres and Giants on their western road trip.
The 2021 Nationals set the N.L. record for blown saves with 37. The 2026 Nationals’ bullpen blew 27 saves through the first 97 games– three coming in the last three games before the All-Star break, leaving the team a game below .500 for the first time in more than a month. Ten of those blown saves came in the ninth inning. Image what the Nats’ record would have been if they won even half of those 10 games: A 53-44 mark would have put them right in middle of the race for a playoff spot.
Washington baseball history 