The Washington Nationals entered the All-Star break on the fringe of playoff contention, winning two of three in their final series before the hiatus.
The Nats bettered that by returning to action, sweeping fellow contender Cincinnati this past weekend, taking the series finale 5-2 after rookie James Wood hit a three-run homer in the eighth inning Sunday. And while the sweep is just one series, it’s a wonderful way to come back from the midseason break.
“It’s massive,” pitcher Jake Irvin said. “Baseball’s a game of ups and downs and momentum swings, and to come out of the break where everybody’s fresh and to that it’s really cool and something we can build off of.”
The sweep pulls the Nats even with the Reds in the Wild Card standings, four games out of the final playoff spot.
“I’m glad the boys went out and got a good running start,” Manager Davey Martinez said. “To come out and beat them three games like that it says a lot about our boys and what they want to do. We’ve got a lot of fight, I’m proud of them, and we’ve still got a long way to go.”
Digesting the Division: Philadelphia (63-36) needed six scoreless innings from rookie Tyler Phillips in his third career start to avoid getting swept in Pittsburgh. As if the Phillies needed another strong arm.
Atlanta (54-44) dropped two of three to St. Louis but also lost second baseman Ozzie Albies with a broken wrist (expected recovery is eight weeks). The infielder leads the team in doubles, is tied for second in total bases and ranks third on the club in runs scored.
The New York Mets (50-48) are in a three-way tie (with San Diego and Arizona) for the third NL Wild Card after dropping two of three in Miami. For all the excitement surrounding their surge up the standings, the Mets haven’t been able to solve the Marlins (4-5 so far this season).
Washington (47-53) is six games better than last year at this time while Miami (35-64) is 18 games worse than 2023.
Break up the Birds: Baltimore (60-38) took two of three in Texas, including Grayson Rodriguez’ American League-best 12th win of the season Saturday. The 24-year-old is 10 strikeouts away from bettering his 2023 total and with 12 starts left on the season can think of surpassing passing last year’s total.
The O’s wrap up July with a series in Miami before hosting San Diego and Toronto to conclude the month.
Diamonds Direct Diamond King: Kyle Finnegan saved all three games of the series, tossing 2.1 scoreless innings to increase his career-best total to 28 for the season. And this was after being a late-roster addition for the All-Star Game. How late? He was in line for a ride at Hershey Park Monday afternoon when the call came in. Hershey Park Happy, indeed…
Last Week’s Heroes: Patrick Corbin allowed one run over six innings to post his first win in 5 starts while Jake Irvin struck out seven over seven solid innings. Jacob Young hit .500 while scoring three runs and James Wood drove in five over the weekend. Juan Yepez batted .333 with a homer and three RBI, increasing his hitting streak to 13 games.
Last Week’s Humbled: C.J. Abrams went 3-13 at the plate and scored just once from the leadoff spot against the Reds while Lane Thomas batted 1-10 and was caught stealing Sunday afternoon.
Trey Lipscomb went 1-11 to help create a vacuum near the bottom of the lineup. MacKenzie Gore coughed up three runs over two innings in his start and his slide (0-3 with an ERA of 7.01 in six starts over the last month) is beginning to be disturbing as the team has already lost Josiah Gray for the season with a torn UCL (he’ll have surgery this Wednesday).
Jose A. Ferrer became the second lefthander in the bullpen last week but allowed three runs while getting one out in his lone appearance.
Game to Watch: San Diego is tied for the final playoff spot in the NL with the Mets and Arizona, and the Padres drop by the district Tuesday for a three-game series. Wednesday the Nats pitch Mitchell Parker, who’s also struggled in July (7.24 ERA over three starts) while San Diego starts Matt Waldron who hasn’t won a decision since June 19.
Game to Miss: Thursday they wrap up the series with the Padres at 12:05 p.m. in the Washington heat. Even with Patrick Corbin coming off his first win since May 10, I’m going to stay inside with the air conditioning.
