The Nationals drew just under 39,000 people to Nationals Park tonight for a sell-out to take in the first game of the Beltway Series, on hotdog night, and Natty the dog’s major league debut. Despite the reason for the large crowd in the ballpark tonight, they were treated to one heck of a game. The pitching staff is owed a huge “attaboy” tonight, as Zack Littell turned in his best game of the season, Andrew Alvarez made his return from Triple-A with three dominant innings, and Richard Lovelady came in during a jam in the ninth inning and escaped with the third out just in time to give the Nats a game one victory over the Orioles. It was loud, it was dramatic, and it was a huge Nats win.

The Action

Zack Littell began this game with a level of effectiveness that we haven’t seen from him throughout his time as a National. The veteran right-hander induced a lot of contact, but managed to do a very good job of limiting traffic on the basepaths, and didn’t even allow a hit until the third inning. To his credit, Shane Baz started off the game just as well, navigating around a one-out jam with men on first and second in the bottom of the second inning, escaping that and keeping the game scoreless.

The scoreless tie would remain until the bottom of the fourth inning, after a quick 1-2-3 inning in the top of the fourth by Littell, the offense finally got him some support. After back-to-back singles to start the inning, Brady House got the homestanders on the board first with a sacrifice fly, scoring CJ Abrams to make it 1-0.

The Orioles mounted a threat in the top of the fifth, just as Littell was trying to get out of five innings with a zero still in the runs column. A two-out double by Gunnar Henderson put men on second and third for Taylor Ward, but Littell won the battle against him on the sixth pitch of the at-bat by getting Ward to ground out, ending the inning and a successful scoreless outing by Zack Littell.

The top of the sixth inning saw Blake Butera hand the ball over to Andrew Alvarez, the lefty just recalled from Triple-A Rochester after a very successful big league run last September and a great outing earlier this season against the Giants. His night started just as successfully, setting down the side in order in the sixth to send this game to the bottom half of the inning with the Nats holding on to that 1-0 lead.

The biggest swing of the game tonight came in the bottom of the sixth, as Daylen Lile struck again, blasting his fourth home run in the last four games, this time a two-run shot, extending the lead to 3-0 Washington.

• Shane Baz: 7 innings, 6 hits, 3 runs (3 earned), 3 walks, 4 strikeouts, 108 pitches
• Zack Littell: 5 innings, 2 hits, 0 runs, 2 walks, 3 strikeouts, 87 pitches

After working his way out of a two-on, two-out jam in the top of the seventh, Andrew Alvarez completed his second inning of scoreless work and brought the number down to six outs remaining to get. He would bring that number down to three outs to go after setting down the heart of the Baltimore order 1-2-3 in the eighth, finishing with strikeouts of Adley Rutschman and Pete Alonso.

The stakes were raised dramatically in the top half of the ninth, as the Nats’ offense stayed quiet, and Alvarez was sent back out to finish it off with that 3-0 lead still intact. The inning began with a single by Samuel Basallo, and things escalated when Alvarez walked Tyler O’Neill on four pitches, none remotely close to strikes. So with the tying run coming to the plate and nobody out, Blake Butera made the move to go to Gus Varland, who came in and poured gasoline on the fire, walking the first batter he faced to load the bases. He dialed it back in and struck out Coby Mayo to put the Nationals a groundball away from ending the game. The Nats traded an out for a run against Jeremiah Jackson in the next at-bat, surrendering a sacrifice fly to make it 3-1, but putting them an out away from securing the win. With a left-handed hitting Gunnar Henderson coming up, Butera went to his lefty ace Richard Lovelady to try and put this one in the books. It didn’t start well, as Henderson grounded one up the middle, scoring another run, and making it 3-2, with the tying run now standing 90 feet away from scoring, and Adley Rutschman striding to the plate. Lovelady struggled with his sinker command tonight, so what did he do? He threw three consecutive sweepers to Rutschman, getting an awkward check swing strikeout on the third one, ending this game and giving the Nationals a huge win in game one of this three-game Beltway series.

What’s Next?

The Nats will go for the early series win tomorrow afternoon in game two of this series, with first pitch coming to us at 4:05. The good guys will send Cade Cavalli (1-2, 4.02 ERA) to the mound to try and secure them an early series win, and he’ll be opposed by Chris Bassitt (3-2, 5.21 ERA). The Nationals have a golden opportunity to win a high-profile series tomorrow night, with their ace on the mound against a struggling veteran right-hander, and with the offense clicking like they have this week, we could be in for a great game tomorrow night.

Down on the Farm

AAA Rochester

• 3-2 win today versus Lehigh Valley
• Chandler Champlain: 7 innings, 5 hits, 2 hits, 1 walk, 3 strikeouts (3.00 ERA)
• Zach Penrod: 2 innings, 0 hits, 0 runs, 1 walk, 3 strikeouts (4.86 ERA)
• Robert Hassell III: 1-4, double (BA to .243, OPS to .661)
• Yohandy “YoYo” Morales: 2-2, double, walk (BA to .362, OPS to 1.067)
• Abi Ortiz: 1-3, double, RBI (BA to .243, OPS to .782)
• Andrew Pinckney: 1-3, RBI (BA to .254, OPS to .746)
• Trey Lipscomb: 1-3, home run (7), RBI (BA to .232, OPS to .734)
• Tomorrow: 6:45 game versus Lehigh Valley (Riley Cornelio pitching)

AA Harrisburg

• 8-3 loss today at Altoona
• Alex Clemmey: 5.2 innings, 6 hits, 2 runs, 2 walks, 5 strikeouts
• Valentin Linarez: 2.1 innings, 1 hit, 0 runs, 2 walks, 2 strikeouts
• Seaver King: 1-4, walk (BA to .331, OPS to .985)
• Sam Petersen: 2-5 (BA to .232, OPS to .800)
• Max Romero: 1-3, double, walk (BA to .306, OPS to .919)
• Cortland Lawson: 2-4 (BA to .253, OPS to .765)
• Tomorrow: 6:00 game at Altoona (Davian Garcia pitching)

High-A Wilmington

• 9-5 loss today at Winston Salem
• Riley Maddox: 4.1 innings, 7 hits, 6 runs, 2 walks, 8 strikeouts
• Devin Fitz-Gerald: 3-5, home run (10), double, 2 RBIs (BA to .321, OPS to 1.101)
• Ethan Petry: 2-4, RBI (BA to .301, OPS to .933)
• Randal Diaz: 2-4, home run (4), RBI (BA to .234, OPS to .765)
• Caleb Farmer: 2-4, home run (2), double, RBI (BA to .278, OPS to .900)
• Tomorrow: 6:30 game at Winston Salem (Bryan Polanco pitching)

Low-A Fredericksburg

• 6-5 win today versus Salem
• Alexander Meckley: 6 innings, 5 hits, 2 runs, 0 walks, 3 strikeouts
• Eli Willits: 1-3, 2 walks, 2 RBIs (BA to .266, OPS to .825)
• Gavin Fien: 1-3, home run (1), walk, 2 RBIs (BA to .182, OPS to .672)
• Nick Peoples: 1-3, triple, RBI, walk (BA to .237, OPS to .868)
• Tomorrow: 6:35 game versus Salem (Miguel Sime pitching)