The Nationals returned home from a long California road trip for an Interleague home series with the Houston Astros, the team they beat the 2019 World Series, as Washington took care of business in the Saturday and Sunday contests for another regular season series win. The team has now won three of their last four series, beating San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Houston.
Coincidentally, the Nationals were also celebrating the five-year anniversary of that World Series championship, as notable alums such as Ryan Zimmerman, Howie Kendrick, Adam Eaton, Gerardo Parra, and Brian Dozier were in attendance for Saturday’s game, where Washington beat Houston 5-4 in 10 innings.
The Nats’ extra innings victory on April 20th came on a walk-off hit by Joey Meneses, as he singled to right to drive in Nasim Nunez in the bottom of the 10th. Meneses went 3-for-5 at the plate with that game-winning RBI single in the contest.
C.J. Abrams also stepped up in that game, going 2-for-5 with a 405-foot leadoff home run to tie the game at 1-1 in the bottom of the first, while Riley Adams hit a sacrifice fly to give Washington a 2-1 lead in the fourth, and Jesse Winker hit a 2-RBI single to tie the game at 4-4 in the bottom of the ninth and force extras.
Pitching-wise, Trevor Williams got the start on the mound and went six innings on 77 pitches with an ERA of 2.91, while multiple relievers saw action afterwards, with Kyle Finnegan being credited with the win.
Then on Sunday, the Nationals shut out the Astros 6-0 in what was the second major league start for pitcher Mitchell Parker. Washington’s No. 21 prospect went seven scoreless innings on 73 pitches while striking out eight batters for his second win of 2024, becoming the first player in franchise history to throw seven or more scoreless innings on fewer than 80 pitches.
However, Parker’s performance wasn’t complete without the Nats’ bats, as Luis Garcia Jr. finished 3-for-4 with two RBIs, which both came on a single that sent home Winker and Lane Thomas in the bottom of the first. Garcia is now batting .317 with 10 RBIs on the season.
Also in that game, Winker opened the contest with an RBI single for the first run of the game, while Meneses came through again with two hits and two RBIs, courtesy of a single to right that drove in Abrams and Jacob Young, and Nick Senzel hit his first homer as a member of Washington.
Washington lost to Houston 5-3 on Friday, April 19th, as MacKenzie Gore had a rare misstep allowing three runs on 92 pitches in just four innings for his first loss of the season. Nevertheless, both Adams and Ildemaro Vargas finished with two hits and an RBI each, while Abrams launched a 402-foot bomb to deep center. He currently leads the Nationals with six home runs so far.
Next up, Washington will have a three-game home series with the Los Angeles Dodgers this Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. The two ballclubs previously met at Dodger Stadium the previous week.
