(Washington, D.C.) The Washington Nationals avoided suffering their second sweep of the 2026 season with a 3-0 victory over the San Francisco Giants in the series finale on Sunday.

The Nationals grabbed the lead in the fifth inning against former Nationals top prospect Robbie Ray after a double by catcher Keibert Ruiz. Later in the inning, first baseman Curtis Mead hit a two-run home run — the seventh of his professional career — giving the Nationals a 3-0 lead.

Outside of the fifth inning, the Nationals were only able to muster four hits and their two best hitters — CJ Abrams and James Wood — were a combined 0 for 9.

For the second time in a row, Nationals manager Blake Butera opted to bring Mikolas in out of the bullpen rather than using him as a traditional starter. Both times, crafty left-hander PJ Poulin has been used as the team’s opener.

The unconventional strategy yielded great results this time, with Mikolas entering the game with two outs in the first and going on to toss 4.1 scoreless innings while striking out four Giants hitters.

“[Mikolas] really just wants to do everything he can to help us win,” Butera said. “He was fired up … so happy [after this], which was so good to see,” Butera said.

Nationals relief pitcher Andrew Alvarez — who was recalled from AAA Rochester this morning — was thrown into high-leverage innings immediately by Butera. The 26-year-old performed admirably, never leaving the game after entering in the fifth inning, closing out the Giants.

The performance marked the team’s first shutout of the 2026 season, and just the second game the pitching staff had allowed less than two runs.

Alvarez, who has been used primarily as a starting pitcher by the Red Wings, transitioned seamlessly into the long relief role, even flashing some of the swing-and-miss stuff that made him effective at the AAA level, striking out five Giants hitters.

“We knew [Alvarez] could give us some length,” Butera said. “We knew we could give out bullpen some well-deserved rest … that went as perfectly as it could have.”

Since Abrams’ first at bat on Saturday — the day his eight-game hit streak came to an end — Abrams is 0 for 9. But the underlying numbers suggest Abrams’ mini-slump might not last long.

In the last two games, Abrams has hit the ball over 90 MPH five times and struck out just once. In the past, when Abrams has gone into slumps, the drop in performance has been correlated with an increase in swing-and-misses. Across August and September of last season — Abrams worst two months of the year — he struck out in nearly 26% of at bats, an 8% increase from the first half of the season.

If Abrams can keep making hard contact while keeping his K% down, the hits will come. The last two days haven’t been indicative of the sudden performance drops that have plagued him in the past.

The Nationals will continue their homestand by beginning a four-game series against the Atlanta Braves as they seek their first divisional series win of the year. Jake Irvin will take the hill for the Nationals in game one of the series tomorrow, facing off with Braves starting pitcher Bryce Elder, who has allowed just two runs in four starts this season.