WASHINGTON -- The Nationals’ momentum of winning the series against the Yankees was halted by a 7-6 defeat to the Cubs on Friday at Nationals Park.

Despite trailing by four runs after the third inning, the Nats fought back with a three-run ninth-inning rally that fell short.

“We’re going to play hard for the last out of the game, and they did that tonight,” said manager Dave Martinez. “... They never treat it like they’re out of a game, and I love that about them.”

Here are three takeaways from the series opener:

Crews homers -- again
MLB’s No. 2 prospect, Dylan Crews, crushed his second Major League home run, going yard in back-to-back games after homering Wednesday against the Yankees.

Crews sent a first-pitch fastball from left-hander Shota Imanaga a Statcast-projected 404 feet into the visitors’ bullpen at 106.9 mph in the third inning. He homered to the same spot on Wednesday off a fastball from southpaw Carlos Rodón.

“[Crews] asked me, ‘Should I take a strike?’” Martinez said. “I said, ‘Nooo. You get a fastball, you go ahead and let it rip.’ And he did.”

Crews became the first Nationals rookie to hit a home run in back-to-back games since Alex Call (Sept. 8-9, 2022 at St. Louis and Philadelphia). With four extra-base hits in his first four career games since debuting on Monday, he ranks third in Nationals team history (2005-present) behind only Ian Desmond (six, 2009) and Danny Espinosa (five, 2010).

Crews experienced a late-game learning moment when he came to the plate in the ninth with two outs and runners on first and second. He struck out swinging at a curveball from right-hander Keegan Thompson in a 2-2 count, leaving the tying run stranded on second.

“I feel very confident up there,” Crews said. “I believe in myself in those situations. But it’s a hard game, and sometimes you fall short. But you’ve got to brush it off and move on to the next game.”

Irvin disappointed by seven-run inning
Right-hander Jake Irvin allowed all seven runs in the second inning, in which he faced 11 batters. Irvin tied left-hander Patrick Corbin for most runs given up in a single frame by a Nationals pitcher this season (July 30 vs. Arizona).

“It comes down to execution,” Irvin said. “I think I executed really poorly in that second inning.”

Irvin opened the inning with a 2-0 lead but gave up four consecutive hits -- singles to Isaac Paredes, Nico Hoerner and Dansby Swanson and a double to Pete Crow-Armstrong -- that led to three quick runs. Crow-Armstrong then scored on a fielder’s choice, and Michael Busch added an RBI double. The Cubs put an exclamation point on the rally when Cody Bellinger homered on a sinker in a 1-2 count that grew the gap to five runs.

“Truthfully, [I] just made really bad two-strike pitches; putting myself in the driver’s seat and not being able to put guys away,” Irvin said. “Making not only bad pitches, but pitches that put guys in good positions to hit and slug. To come out with seven runs is deserved.”

On the night, Irvin pitched 4 2/3 innings with eight hits, seven runs, two walks, one home run and six strikeouts across 103 pitches.

“Just one inning,” said Martinez. “But that inning, everything was up, couldn’t get the ball down, location wasn’t great. Then after that, he settled down, he gave us more than what I thought he was going to give us.”

Abrams moved to No. 7 spot
Shortstop CJ Abrams was bumped down from lead-off to seventh in the batting order amid second-half struggles. He is batting .182 out of the break, compared to .268 in the first half when he earned an All-Star selection.

“[The key is] swinging at my pitch, kind of getting out of my head as well,” Abrams said. “Going out there and having fun playing baseball. I’m here for a reason, I’ve just got to believe in myself.”

Martinez tabbed Crews at the leadoff spot for the second game in a row with the goal of Abrams observing ample pitches before stepping up to the plate.

“I just want to give him a little breather,” said Martinez. “I want him to relax a little bit, start working better at-bats. As we know, he’s chasing a lot. I just want him to slow down a little bit.”

Abrams entered Friday in the ninth percentile in chase rate. He went 0-for-3 against the Cubs, but drew a crucial ninth-inning walk in a 2-2 count to load the bases in a late rally.

“He got a big walk for us in that last inning, which I love,” Martinez said. “So we’ll build off of that.”