It didn't matter. Ritchie battled through 4 innings, Cavalli couldn't quite hold the line either, and the Braves offense supplied the difference with power. Mike Yastrzemski and Matt Olson each went deep — Olson's 31st homer of the season — and that was enough cushion for Atlanta's bullpen to close it out.
Washington got its 2 runs the only way it could Sunday, a hit-by-pitch and a James Wood sacrifice fly in the 4th, and an Atlanta throwing error handed the Braves an extra run in the 5th that ended up mattering. That's been the story of this series: Washington's offense has actually been one of the best in baseball by raw production this year, but it hasn't translated into series wins against a Braves club playing its best baseball of the summer.
The bigger picture is uglier for Washington than one series. The Nationals dropped their 5th straight and were swept in all 4 games at Truist Park, dragging a middling record further away from relevance with a trade deadline bearing down. Atlanta, meanwhile, keeps winning despite a rotation that's been forced into scramble mode — Strider likely done for the year and now Reynaldo López landing on the 15-day IL is the reason Ritchie was even out there Sunday.
None of that dented Atlanta's floor. This roster has enough offense and enough bullpen depth to paper over rotation chaos for a weekend, and Sunday was the clearest example yet — an emergency starter and a banged-up pitching staff still finished off a clean sweep of a divisional opponent.