Braves 8, Nationals 3: Perez No-Hit Bid Meets Acuna and Olson Homers

Scratched starter. Almost a no-hitter. Easy win.

August 1, 2026 – Atlanta – Reynaldo López was scratched 35 minutes before first pitch with left knee inflammation. Martín Pérez got the ball against the highest-scoring team in baseball.

He nearly threw a no-hitter.

Pérez held the Washington Nationals hitless until Brady House singled in the seventh, finished seven innings with one hit and six strikeouts, and watched Ronald Acuña Jr., Matt Olson, and Dominic Smith go deep as the Atlanta Braves won 8-3 for a third straight victory in the series.

Acuna and Olson set the tone in the first

Acuña and Olson hit back-to-back homers in the first. Smith added a 403-foot solo shot leading off the fourth after successfully challenging what would have been strike three. Austin Riley drove in two. Mike Yastrzemski had two hits. Atlanta led 8-0 before Washington scored three in the eighth on Dylan Crews's double and CJ Abrams's two-run single.

Miles Mikolas took the loss after five runs and three homers in six innings. The Nationals have lost four straight and entered the deadline weekend at 55-57.

Perez's 78-pitch gem almost made history

Atlanta has not thrown a no-hitter since Kent Mercker beat the Dodgers in 1994. The franchise has four since moving to Atlanta in 1966. Pérez got through six without a hit on 78 pitches before House broke it up with a clean single to right. He still left with a shutout line and a win that looked inevitable after the first-inning homers.

That is a deadline fill-in start done the hard way: no days of notice, best offense in the league, and still a board-leading pitcher night.

AthX Engine put Perez alone at No. 1

AthX Engine (AthX's projection and scoring system) credited Pérez with 28 pitching fantasy points, first on the Saturday slate. Atlanta's 16 team FP ranked third. Dominic Smith scored 8 hitting FP on the challenged at-bat that became a homer.

Fantasy points measure performance under platform rules. Share prices also move with market activity through dynamic pricing. A one-hit, seven-inning emergency start is the story. The 28 FP total is how it ranks against every other pitcher from Saturday.

Series finale still undecided on Atlanta's starter

Cade Cavalli starts for Washington on Sunday. Atlanta had not named a starter by the final wrap. The Braves are 8-2 at home since the All-Star break and keep stacking wins whether the scheduled pitcher makes it to the mound or not.

Pérez did not just cover an inning. He nearly wrote franchise history and still left with the cleanest pitcher line on the board.

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*Sources: MLB.com Gameday final, ESPN recap and box score, Associated Press coverage of Perez's no-hit bid, MLB.com schedule, and AthX Engine scoring. Information only; not financial advice.*