WASHINGTON (AP) — Still seeking a victory in 2016, Atlanta Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez acknowledged his team’s troubles affected his decision-making Tuesday night.

Even with starter Jhoulys Chacin working on a shutout through six innings on only 69 pitches, Gonzalez lifted the righty for a pinch hitter with a man on second and two outs in the seventh. Didn’t work. And the Braves wound up losing 2-1 to the Washington Nationals to fall to 0-7 this season.

“We haven’t won a game in a week and we’ve got to get one and get a run here,” Gonzalez explained. “I think it’s one of those decisions later on this summer, where if you’ve got a nice winning streak going or you’re rolling, you maybe let him hit there in that situation.”

Chacin’s reaction to the move?

“I was fine with it,” he said.

On a windy night with the temperature dipping into the 50s after the first pitch, both starting pitchers were making their season debut. And both were superb.

Chacin came up from Triple-A Gwinnett on Tuesday, while Washington’s Gio Gonzalez saw action for the first time since a March 27 spring training exhibition. Both threw six shutout innings. Chacin allowed five singles and struck out eight, walking none.

“Every time you pitch good and your team doesn’t win,” Chacin said, “it’s hard to take.”

After he left, Bryce Harper sliced a two-run double to left with two outs in the eighth inning for the Nationals’ 12th consecutive home victory against the Braves.

Harper, the reigning NL MVP, broke a scoreless tie by connecting with the first pitch delivered by left-handed reliever Eric O’Flaherty after righty Jim Johnson (0-2) put two runners on. The hit hooked toward the line and away from left fielder Jeff Francoeur, who dove in a bid to make a catch but had the ball go off his glove.

Harper yelled and clapped while standing on second base, and Nationals manager Dusty Baker punched the air in the home dugout.

It made a winner of Blake Treinen (2-0), who got Francoeur to ground into a bases-loaded 6-4-3 double play to end the eighth.

Treinen stayed in for the ninth but was removed after walking Gordon Beckham with two outs. Felipe Rivero then gave up Kelly Johnson’s RBI double to make it a one-run game before earning his first save of the season by striking out Mallex Smith.

The Nationals improved to 5-1, while the Braves are off to their worst start since opening the 1988 season with 10 losses.

Their futility in Washington is the worst stretch for the Braves on the road against one opponent since a 13-game skid at the Dodgers in 1951-52, according to STATS LLC.

“It’s been a tough stretch. I feel like we’re playing good ball and we just can’t get that big hit or get that big out or we come up with a little miscue or something that snowballs an inning on us,” said catcher Tyler Flowers, 0 for 4 with three strikeouts. “We’re getting close. We’re all still very positive in here.”

TRAINER’S ROOM

Braves: CF Smith was back in the lineup a day after needing five stitches for a cut above his left eye he got while trying to steal a base during his major league debut. “I will always remember: ‘How’d you get that scar?’ ‘Same day I actually made it up to the major leagues,'” Smith said.

UP NEXT

Washington RHP Stephen Strasburg (1-0, 1.50 ERA) is 3-0 with a 0.53 ERA in his past three starts against Atlanta, including a 3-1 victory in this season’s second game. RHP Matt Wisler (0-0, 5.40) starts for the Braves.