The Nationals are heading into Tuesday night in Boston with a familiar problem hanging over them: they’re back at .500. After yesterday’s loss, Washington sits at 43-43, and with the second half now underway, the margin for drift is getting smaller by the day.
That’s the big picture right now. The Nats have not been able to pull away from the even mark, and recent series have only pushed them back in the wrong direction.
If the front office is going to be convinced to buy at the deadline, the club needs more than just competitiveness. It needs a real run, and it needs statement wins before the All-Star break gets any closer.
There is still reason to keep an eye on the offense, even with the latest setback. Luis Garcia Jr. had been on a historic tear before cooling off yesterday, becoming the Nationals’ sixth player ever to hit six or more home runs over a six-game stretch.
That puts him in company with Bryce Harper, Kyle Schwarber, and Ryan Zimmerman. He’s also carrying a .304 batting average in June with 11 homers, giving Washington another bat it can lean on as the season moves on.
CJ Abrams remains in the spotlight too. He finished first in NL shortstop voting over the last month, and the next step is getting him over the line as an All-Star Game starter.
On the injury front, Mitchell Parker has landed on the IL, and manager Blake Butera gave an update on the left-handed reliever’s status:
“Mentally, he’s pretty bummed out given what happened,” manager Blake Butera said. “He got some imaging done; we’re still waiting on the results from that.
Hopefully, we hear some positive news. But with it being the elbow, [we] absolutely need to make sure we’re taking care of him.
We thought putting him on the IL was the right decision.”
The Nats now turn to a two-game set in Boston, where they’ll try to stop the slide. Wednesday brings the series finale, then a travel and rest day Thursday before Friday’s home game against the Pittsburgh Pirates to open the New Home 4th of July Series.
The opener in Boston did not go Washington’s way. Miles Mikolas let the game get away early, and while James Wood opened the scoring with a leadoff homer, the offense never really found its footing again. The Nationals struck out 12 times and managed just four runners in scoring position all night, leaving them with little chance to climb back in once the Red Sox had control.
Mikolas took the loss, finishing 7.0 innings with 9 hits, 6 runs, 6 earned runs, 0 walks and 3 strikeouts. James Wood went 1-for-4 with the homer, CJ Abrams drove in two runs and Curtis Mead collected two singles.
Washington finished 2-for-4 with runners in scoring position, and neither team committed an error. The attendance was 32,000.
There was better news across the minors over the weekend. All four Nationals affiliates either tied or won their series despite the rain rolling through up and down the coast. The Blue Rocks and Senators are both trending toward .500, and every Nats affiliate now sits at or above that mark as the second half continues.
Rochester kept rolling with a 9-4 win over Charlotte to finish a 4-2 series victory. The Triple-A Red Wings are now 49-30, a sharp rise from their 14-17 mark on May 1, as they’ve gone 35-13 since then.
Fredericksburg dealt with a messy, weather-hit weekend, with two games suspended and delayed, but the Single-A club still went 3-3 in its series and won one game 13-3. The Fred Nats remain the organization’s best record at 51-24, helped by 19-year-old Gavin Fien, who hit .313 in June with 25 RBIs.
Harrisburg also came through with a solid week, going 3-2 with one postponed game to move back to .500 at 37-37. Nats No. 23 prospect Sam Petersen picked up a hit in each of the team’s three series wins and continued to contribute to winning baseball.
In Other News...
Former Nationals Prospect Is Already Making This Trade Look Painful
For the Nationals, the appeal of a prospect-for-prospect swap was supposed to be about balancing timelines, but early returns have already given the deal a sharper edge. Jake Bennett has opened his major league career in Boston looking composed and efficient, with a 3.27 ERA and a 1.06 WHIP across six starts, the sort of early stretch that makes a front office wonder whether it gave up a pitcher closer to helping than expected.
Luis Perales, meanwhile, has been working through uneven results at Triple-A Rochester, leaving Washington with a less certain answer on the other side of the trade. In a season where every roster move gets weighed against the bigger chase, the Nationals were betting on upside, but Bennetts quick adaptation has turned this into one of those swaps that can start lingering in the background long before either club is ready to deliver a final verdict. [Read more 🡒]
Nationals Just Made Another Pitching Shuffle Fans Can't Ignore
The Nationals continued to reshuffle their pitching pipeline this week, moving right-hander Connor Van Scoyoc and left-hander Alex Young up to their Triple-A affiliate in Rochester. Van Scoyoc earned the bump after a solid run with Double-A Harrisburg, where he worked as both a starter and reliever and gave the organization a steady look over 18 appearances with a 6-2 record and a 3.54 ERA.
Youngs rise has been even more notable for how quickly it has happened. Signed in May while coming back from elbow surgery, he moved through the system fast after a brief stop in Harrisburg, where he did not allow an earned run in two outings, and now gets another test at the top of the minors as Washington continues sorting through its depth on the mound. [Read more 🡒]