Matt Olson and Michael Harris II hit home runs and Bryce Elder pitched six strong innings, lifting the Atlanta Braves to a 6-2 win over the visiting Washington Nationals on Friday.

Atlanta has won both games in the four-game series and holds a 6-3 lead over the Nationals in the season series. The Braves are on a three-game overall winning streak, while the Nationals have dropped three in a row.

Olson went 2-for-4 with a double and a first-inning solo homer. Harris finished 2-for-4 and put the game away with a three-run shot in the sixth inning.

Elder (7-6) allowed one run on four hits and three walks while striking out three. He earned his second win over Washington this season.

Atlanta’s Elieser Hernandez covered the final three innings in relief. He gave up five hits, including a solo homer to Andres Chaparro in the ninth, but fanned four, walked one and earned his first career save.

CJ Abrams also went deep for Washington.

Most of Atlanta’s damage came against Foster Griffin (12-3), who pitched 5 1/3 innings and permitted six runs on nine hits and two walks, striking out three. Griffin saw his eight-decision winning streak end.

Olson socked his 29th homer with two outs in the first, a 396-foot shot into the right field seats.

Atlanta added a run in the second when Jim Jarvis, who finished with three hits, lined an RBI single to center field.

Abrams cut the Nationals’ deficit to 2-1 leading off the fourth, when he crushed an elevated cutter from Elder high into the right field seats. It was his 28th homer and eighth in his past 12 games.

The Braves broke the game open in the sixth by scoring four times. Olson led off with a double, Ozzie Albies followed with a single and Harris lined a three-run blast 421 feet into the right field seats for his 20th home run.

Griffin soon exited with a runner on base, and Jarvis came through with an RBI single against Trevor Williams.

The Nationals got two runners on base in the seventh and eighth innings but came up empty both times. Washington finished 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position and stranded 11 on base.

–Field Level Media

Angel Reese had 21 points and 13 rebounds on Friday to help lead the Atlanta Dream to a 98-89 victory over the Seattle Storm in College Park, Ga.

Naz Hillmon added 18 points and Allisha Gray scored 16 for the Dream (18-10), who won their fifth straight game. Brionna Jones had 14 points off the bench, while Jordin Canada chipped in 10 points and nine assists.

Natisha Hiedeman led Seattle (6-25) with 23 points, followed by Dominique Malonga’s 16-point, 13-rebound double-double. Reserve Ezi Magbegor scored 12 points before fouling out for the last-place Storm, who dropped their eighth straight game.

After Hillmon’s triple extended Atlanta’s 14-point halftime lead to 50-33 on the opening possession of the second half, Seattle pulled within 10 on Malonga’s mid-range jumper with 7:04 left in the third quarter.

The visitors continued to chip away as Katie Lou Samuelson’s 3-pointer sliced Atlanta’s lead to 66-59 entering the final quarter.

Seattle cut the deficit to five on Awa Fam’s triple before Reese’s second 3-pointer of the fourth began a 7-0 run to give the Dream a 78-66 lead.

The Storm answered with six straight points, but Gray’s layup stamped a 9-2 Atlanta run to create a 13-point cushion with 3:53 remaining.

Another late charge pulled the Storm within four, but Atlanta made its final six free-throw attempts to seal the win.

Atlanta finished the opening quarter on a 13-1 run to grab a 27-15 edge.

After Hiedeman’s mid-range jumper cut the Storm’s deficit to eight with three minutes left in the first half, Hillmon’s triple and Reese’s layup pushed the margin to 13.

Seattle’s Jade Melbourne then hit a triple before Hillmon and Jaylyn Sherrod’s back-to-back layups gave the Dream a 47-33 halftime advantage. Hillmon’s 12 first-half points led all scorers, while Flau’Jae Johnson paced Seattle with nine before going scoreless in the second half.

The Storm committed 14 turnovers before halftime, including five by Johnson.

–Field Level Media

Shakira Austin scored 19 of her season-high 28 points in the first half, Kiki Iriafen added 22 points, and the host Washington Mystics held off a late Dallas surge for an 81-75 victory over the Wings on Friday.

Sonia Citron scored 16 points and made four free throws in the final 24 seconds for the Mystics (16-12), who have won four straight for the first time since 2020 and took another step toward their first playoff appearance since 2023.

Paige Bueckers scored 17 of her 23 points in the second half and Arike Ogunbowale added 20 points for the Wings (18-11), who have lost three of four.

Austin made two free throws with 1:21 left for a 75-73 lead, and Citron hit two free throws with 24.2 seconds remaining to make it 77-73 after Ogunbowale missed a 3-pointer.

Bueckers hit a layup with 19.8 seconds left before Citron hit two more free throws to ice it with 10.8 seconds left.

Austin had her fourth 20-point game of July, when she averaged 19.8 points and 9.7 rebounds. She had 10 boards Friday.

Ogunbowale’s 3-pointer midway though the fourth quarter gave the Wings a 64-63 lead, their first lead since early in the first quarter, and from there neither team led by more than three until the final seconds.

Alanna Smith had 11 points in 18 minutes for the Wings after missing the previous four games with a leg injury. Her two free throws tied the game at 71 with 2 1/2 minutes left.

The Mystics equaled their win total from 2025 and moved one-half game ahead of the New York Liberty (16-13) for seventh place. Dallas won the first meeting against Washington 92-69 on May 18.

Iriafen had nine rebounds and Citron had five rebounds, five assists and three blocked shots.

Washington had a 42-32 rebounding edge and scored 40 points in the paint to the Wings’ 24. The Mystics led the WNBA with a plus 6.7 rebound differential coming in.

Austin dominated the paint with eight points and Citron had six points and two blocked shots in the first quarter, when the Mystics opened a 10-point lead and were ahead 22-14 at the break. Their zone defense limited Dallas to 4-of-18 shooting from the field

Ogunbowale had nine points in the second quarter when the Wings closed the gap to 38-35 at halftime. Bueckers had 12 points with two 3-pointers in the third quarter but could not dent the Mystics’ lead, which grew to 59-55.

Washington was 7-3 in July.

The teams will meet again in Washington on Wednesday, after the Wings host Connecticut on Sunday. The Mystics do not play again until the rematch.

–Field Level Media