After two road series with the Giants and Athletics in the Bay Area, the Nationals traveled down to southern California for a three-game series with the Los Angeles Dodgers, where they surprisingly looked strong and took two games out of three, with a 6-4 win on Monday, a 6-2 loss on Tuesday, and a 2-0 win on Wednesday.
Washington now improves to 8-10 on the season with those two wins, as solid pitching from the young core and strong batting were a couple factors to help them beat the Dodgers on Monday and Wednesday.
In Monday’s 6-4 victory, pitcher Mitchell Parker made his first start for the Nationals and had himself a stellar debut, striking out four Dodgers batters through five innings on 81 pitches. The 2020 5th-round pick became the first Washington starter to win his MLB debut since Stephen Strasburg.
The batting also got going Monday night, as the red-hot C.J. Abrams finished with two hits, including a homer in the top of the third inning. He also scored on a Tyler Glasnow wild pitch for the first run of the game very early on.
After Abrams’ homer tied it up at 2-2 in the third, Joey Gallo broke the tie with an RBI double to right field in the same inning, while Luis Garcia Jr. launched a three-run homer to left center to make it 6-2 in the top of the fifth.
The Dodgers did attempt a comeback with a couple of runs in the sixth and eighth innings, but Kyle Finnegan came through for his sixth save of the year.
The big highlight of Tuesday’s loss for Washington was Jesse Winker hitting a 429-foot two-run bomb to right center that cut the deficit to 3-2. The 30-year-old outfielder has looked great in his first season with the Nats, as he currently has the most hits (20), highest batting average (.364), and highest OBP (.485) on the team.
Jacob Young also continued his dominant run of stolen bases for his 19th of his career, tied for eighth most all-time to begin a career, while Patrick Corbin had five strikeouts in an otherwise forgettable performance.
The Nationals bounced back on Wednesday afternoon with two runs and a shutout for the surprising series win in Los Angeles, as both runs came in the top of the first inning. C.J. Abrams hit a leadoff homer, which was his team-leading 5th home run this season, while Joey Meneses hit a sacrifice fly that sent home Winker, both against Dodgers rookie pitcher Landon Knack making his major league debut.
Jake Irvin got the start on the mound for Washington, as he went six full innings on 73 pitches and struck out six Dodgers batters for the shutout victory and his first win of 2024, while the bullpen trio of Robert Garcia, Hunter Harvey, and Finnegan finished the job.
This victory was also a huge milestone for manager Davey Martinez, as it turned out to be his 400th win with the Nats, Martinez celebrated with a beer shower from his players and coaches, and closed his postgame press conference with a shoutout to the playoff-bound Capitals of the NHL.
Next up, the Nationals return home for a three-game Interleague series with the Houston Astros, the team they beat in the 2019 World Series.
