Cincinnati Reds at Washington Nationals: Final Score & Recap
Line Score
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CIN | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 1 |
| WSH | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | 5 | 7 | 0 |
The Story
The Washington Nationals defeated the Cincinnati Reds 5-3 at Nationals Park on August 7, 2026, in a game that was largely decided by the middle innings and sealed by a pivotal defensive play late. The DiamondIQ model opened with Washington holding a 54 percent pre-game home win probability, a figure that climbed steadily and eventually reached 100 percent by game's end. Washington struck first in the bottom of the first inning, scoring three runs to establish early control, while Cincinnati chipped away with a run in the second and two more in the third to briefly pull within one. The Nationals answered with two runs in the fourth to push the margin back to two, and that cushion proved enough.
The game's most consequential swing came in the top of the seventh, when Cincinnati's Sal Stewart grounded into a double play against Yovanny Cruz, a sequence that shifted win probability by 23.2 percent against the Reds and effectively extinguished the rally. It was Stewart's second costly double play of the afternoon, having also grounded into one in the top of the fifth off Cade Cavalli for a 11.2 percent swing. On the positive side for Cincinnati, Elly De La Cruz provided the game's most electric individual moment with a home run off Cavalli in the third inning, a plus-10.6 percent WPA play that accounted for much of the Reds' scoring threat.
Among the game's top performers by the DiamondIQ model's estimates, Harry Ford led all batters with a plus-22.4 percent WPA contribution and a RE24 of plus-1.3, headlined by his fourth-inning home run off Julian Garcia that swung win probability 17.6 percent in Washington's favor. De La Cruz finished second among batters at plus-20.9 percent WPA with a RE24 of plus-1.4, while Daylen Lile posted the game's best RE24 at plus-2.1 to go with a plus-10.0 percent WPA. On the mound, Yovanny Cruz was the Nationals' most valuable arm, finishing with a plus-25.5 percent WPA that included inducing the game-altering seventh-inning double play, with Luis Mey and Orlando Ribalta each adding contributions of plus-8.2 and plus-8.1 percent WPA respectively to close it out.