The Nationals responded after a weekend where the offense struggled to put together complete games with just what we were looking for. Facing a struggling starter in Brady Singer, the offense got going early with long balls by James Wood, Luis Garcia, and Daylen Lile, and never took their foot off the pedal. Miles Mikolas, Brad Lord, and Paxton Schultz all gave multi-inning efforts on the mound, leading the Nats to a win in game one of three in Cincinnati.

The Action

This one started with zeros being posted throughout each of the first two innings by Mikolas and Singer. The Nats failed to capitalize on a first and third opportunity with one out in the second, but made up for it in the top of the third inning. After a relatively uneventful first time around the order, the top of the batting order came back up in the third inning and made some excellent adjustments against Brady Singer, beginning with back-to-back solo homers by James Wood and Luis Garcia. A very welcome start to this series, as in the course of two at-bats, they equalled their home run total from this past weekend’s series in Miami.

That number continued to climb in the fourth inning as Daylen Lile connected for his fourth home run of the season, a 415-foot shot to extend the Washington lead to 3-0. While that was the extent of the damage done in the fourth, it was enough to knock Singer out of the game later in the inning, after going just 3.2 innings.

Unfortunately for the Nationals, Miles Mikolas would meet that same fate in the bottom of the fourth. After allowing each of the first three batters to reach base, Mikolas surrendered his first run of the night on an RBI groundout by Matt McLain, cutting the lead to 3-1. After another walk to load the bases back up, Blake Butera pulled the plug and went to Brad Lord to try and get out of the jam and give the staff some length.

• Miles Mikolas: 3.1 innings, 3 hits, 2 runs (1 earned), 2 walks, 2 strikeouts, 71 pitches
• Brady Singer: 3.2 innings, 6 hits, 3 runs (all earned), 1 walk, 2 strikeouts, 75 pitches

Lord came in and did a great job, allowing just one inherited runner to score, as Elly De La Cruz crossed the plate on an error by Brady House (my one critique tonight is that Washington’s league-worst defense made two more errors tonight). He expertly limited the damage, though, inducing a double play on the next hitter to end the inning, keeping the Nationals ahead 3-2.

The fifth inning is where things really started to take a turn in the Nats’ favor. Luis Garcia wasted no time, getting a first-pitch sweeper to start the inning and belting it out to right field for his second homer of the night, doubling the lead to 4-2. For Garcia, he entered the night with one home run on the season, and left with three; that’s one heck of a night when the Nationals really needed it. That wasn’t the only big fly in this inning. Speaking of two-homer nights, Daylen Lile became the second National to do it just in the first five innings of this game, as he topped his first homer by hitting this one 429 feet, and driving in three runs in the process. So after a flurry of pop from the Washington bats, the score was ballooned to 7-2 as we crossed the halfway mark of this game.

Hats off to the bullpen tonight for the Nationals. Brad Lord bent just a little bit, allowing some traffic here and there on the basepaths, but over his 2.2 innings of work, he never folded, and bridged the gap between Mikolas and the back of the bullpen brilliantly to save some arms. Paxton Schultz came in for the bottom of the seventh and was equally impressive, allowing a little bit of traffic in his two innings, but ultimately leaving tonight with a zero in the runs column, giving Blake Butera some much-needed length.

The home run parade for the Nationals was capped off in the top of the eighth by Brady House, who blasted his sixth of the season, a two-run shot to make it 9-2. The final run for the Nats would come in the ninth on an RBI double by Jose Tena, who hit a couple of balls really hard tonight. It was good to see him rewarded here with a nice result.

Zak Kent was tasked with closing this one out, and while he had a night to probably forget, he did get the three outs needed from him. The Reds did get a two-run single from JJ Bleday in the bottom of the ninth, but it served no purpose as the Nationals came out with a resounding 10-4 victory to start this series in style.

What’s Next?

Game two of this three-game set will get underway tomorrow evening at 6:40. The series only gets progressively more difficult for the Nationals, making tonight’s win all the more important. Tomorrow night, they’ll face Nick Lodolo (0-1, 6.75 ERA), one of the better left-handed starters in the National League, and a guy who dominated this team in DC last summer. Don’t let the numbers fool you, Lodolo is making his second start of the season tomorrow, which could be in the Nationals’ favor, but he is about as nasty as they come from the lefty side. The Nats will counter that with Jake Irvin (1-4, 5.22 ERA), who, after showing some promising signs of growth earlier in the season, has sort of tapered off just a little bit, but those early starts are a reminder to us all that he has what it takes, and I hope we’ll get to see some of that tomorrow night.

Down on the Farm

AAA Rochester

• 3-0 win tonight versus Lehigh Valley
• Luis Perales: 5 innings, 0 hits, 0 runs, 4 walks, 3 strikeouts, (3.82 season ERA)
• Eddy Yean: 1.2 innings, 1 hit, 0 runs, 0 walks, 2 strikeouts (6th save, 4.19 season ERA)
• Harry Ford: 0-3, walk (BA to .186, OPS to .562)
• Dylan Crews: 1-4 (BA to .250, OPS to .738)
• YoYo Morales: 3-4, 2 doubles, 2 RBIs (BA to .339, OPS to .981)
• Tomorrow: 6:05 game versus Lehigh Valley (Andry Lara pitching)

AA Harrisburg

• 1-0 loss tonight at Altoona
• Jackson Kent: 7 innings, 3 hits, 1 run, 2 walks, 8 strikeouts (2.81 season ERA)
• Seaver King: 3-4 (BA to .333, OPS to 1.002)
• Tomorrow: 11:00 am game at Altoona (Shinnosuke Ogasawara pitching)

High-A Wilmington

• 12-9 loss today at Winston Salem
• Josh Randall: 3.2 innings, 7 hits, 6 runs, 5 walks, 6 strikeouts (4.50 season ERA)
• Merrick Baldo: 2 innings, 1 hit, 0 runs, 1 walk, 2 strikeouts (5.94 season ERA)
• Devin Fitz-Gerald: 3-4, 2 home runs (8), 2 RBIs, walk (BA to .325, OPS to 1.101)
• Ethan Petry: 2-5, 2 doubles (BA to .295, OPS to .918)
• Kevin Bazzell: 2-5 (BA to .294, OPS to .915)
• Angel Feliz: 2-4, RBI, walk (BA to .240, OPS to .690)
• Hunter Hines: 2-5, home run (3), double, 3 RBIs (BA to .179, OPS to .584)
• Tomorrow: 6:30 game at Winston Salem (Yoel Tejada pitching)

Low-A Fredericksburg

• 4-0 win today versus Salem
• Mikey Tepper: 3 innings, 0 hits, 0 runs, 0 walks, 4 strikeouts (0.00 season ERA)
• Grant Manning: 2.2 innings, 2 hits, 0 runs, 0 walks, 5 strikeouts (1.96 season ERA)
• Julian Tonghini: 2.1 innings, 1 hit, 0 runs, 0 walks, 2 strikeouts (0.00 season ERA)
• Jacob Roberts: 1 inning, 0 hits, 0 runs, 0 walks, 1 strikeout (2.35 season ERA)
• Luke Dickerson: 1-3, walk (BA to .260, OPS to .849)
• Eli Willits: 0-3, walk (BA to .258, OPS to .814)
• Nick Peoples: 1-3, home run (5), RBI (BA to .241, OPS to .867)
• Tomorrow: 6:35 game versus Salem (Carson Fischer pitching)