On a day that featured celebrations of all kinds after the Nationals finally cracked an above-.500 record last night, including a literal parade in DC (shoutout Grant and Danny), the Nationals added to the party with their fourth consecutive win. This one started similarly to last night’s game, as the Nats’ hitters did an unbelievable job of grinding out at-bats against Cleveland’s starter, Joey Cantillo. After Washington put up a four-run second inning to take a 4-0 lead, Cantillo’s pitch count was already at 69 pitches despite only having six outs under his belt. The early offense was supplemented by another great outing by Cade Cavalli, and a three-inning relief appearance by Mitchell Parker to slam the door on Cleveland, and hand the Nationals another series victory over a good ball club.

The Action

The Nationals didn’t have a single at-bat that didn’t go at least four pitches in the top of the first, but despite a couple of walks to Curtis Mead and CJ Abrams, they were unable to score. Cade Cavalli answered Joey Cantillo’s 29-pitch first inning with a 13-pitch frame of his own in the bottom of the first, stranding a Jose Ramirez double in the process.

The Nats picked their act right back up in the second inning, and this time cashed in big time. Daylen Lile drew a walk to lead off the inning, Jacob Young followed with a single, and two batters later, after a wild pitch moved both runners in to scoring position, Keibert Ruiz drove them both in on a two-run single to make it 2-0. James Wood came to the plate next, and on the third pitch of the at-bat, he got ahold of a changeup and absolutely nuked it down the right field line, tucking it just inside the foul pole, and rounding the bases for a two-run shot to double the lead and make it 4-0 Nationals. Wood’s 15th homer of the year seemed to be the nail in the coffin for Cantillo, as a high pitch count forced him out of the game after just two innings.

Meanwhile, Cavalli matched his first inning with another scoreless 13-pitch frame in the second, sending the game to the third inning and to the Guardians’ bullpen. From this point on, it was kind of a pitching-dominated game, as Cavalli rolled into the middle innings with nothing but zeroes on the scoreboard, and Codi Heuer did good work out of the Cleveland bullpen, throwing two scoreless innings in relief of Cantillo.

The one blemish on Cavalli’s line came in the bottom of the fifth inning, as a couple of singles and a walk set the table for Jose Ramirez to hit a fly ball to left field, driving in a run to make it 4-1. James Wood made a nice heads up play on that ball, as he could have chucked the ball as far as he could to try and nab the runner at home, but wisely chose to fire into the infield to prevent the runners on first and second from advancing closer to scoring. The philosophy of surrendering one run in order to prevent more from following is a very mature mindset to have for an outfielder, and it was cool to see the maturity show in that moment.

The Cleveland bullpen remained solid into the later innings, as Shawn Armstrong worked around a Dylan Crews single to put up a zero in the fifth, and then Colin Holderman tossed a 1-2-3 sixth as well to keep the score 4-1. Cade Cavalli’s night ended after six stellar innings, he allowed a leadoff single to Kyle Manzardo in the bottom of the sixth, prompting some to hold their breath, but retired the next three hitters to give the Nationals’ starting rotation another quality start in what’s been a ridiculously good run for them.

• Cade Cavalli: 6 innings, 5 hits, 1 run (1 earned), 2 walks, 7 strikeouts, 87 pitches
• Joey Cantillo: 2 innings, 3 hits, 4 runs (4 earned), 4 walks, 1 strikeout, 69 pitches

The Guardians brought on a left-hander by the name of Will Dion to pitch the top of the seventh. Dion was making his major league debut tonight, and threw the final three frames of the ballgame fairly effectively. He allowed a single to James Wood to lead off the inning, but erased it with a 4-6-3 double play that would end the inning.

Meanwhile, Blake Butera called on a lefty to throw the final three frames for him as well, as Mitchell Parker took the ball in the seventh and took the Nats the rest of the way. Each lefty worked the seventh and eighth innings without allowing a run, despite runners making it to first safely in each half inning across both innings, that all changed in the ninth.

The Nationals’ offense finally broke through for some insurance in the top of the ninth, as Andres Chaparro poked a ball into left field for a hit with two men in scoring position. Nasim Nunez and James Wood both came in to score, but Chaparro was thrown out trying to get to second on the play. The damage had already been done though, and the Nats’ lead was extended to 6-1.

The Guardians responded in the bottom of the ninth before Parker could finish the game off, scoring one on an RBI double by Travis Bazzana, and getting one more on an RBI groundout by Jose Ramirez. One batter later, Chase DeLauter hit a grounder to first, Chaparro gloved, tossed to Parker covering the bag, and a 6-3 series-clinching curly W was in the books in Cleveland.

What’s Next?

The series will conclude tomorrow afternoon, with the finale getting underway at 1:10. This one will be quite the challenge for the Nats, as they’ll be opposed by one of the top pitchers in the American League thus far this season, in the hard-throwing righty, Gavin Williams (7-3, 3.25 ERA). They’ll counter with the veteran Miles Mikolas (1-3, 6.17 ERA), who is coming off of a great outing last weekend in Atlanta. I would expect to see Blake Butera employ a wide variety of bullpen arms tomorrow, as the bullpen has had a serious break over the past few days. So far in two games of this series, PJ Poulin and Mitchell Parker are the only relievers to see action out of the Nats’ bullpen, which is a great problem to have, and allows Butera to give Mikolas a short leash tomorrow, especially with a day off coming on Thursday. Assuming Andrew Alvarez will start in Jake Irvin‘s spot on Friday, he’s probably out of the mix, but Gus Varland hasn’t pitched since Sunday, neither has Orlando Ribalta or Richard Lovelady. We also haven’t seen Brad Lord since Saturday, but for Clayton Beeter and Paxton Schultz, it’s been since Friday so expect to see a plethora of arms tomorrow to keep everyone hot.

Down on the Farm

AAA Rochester

• Offday today
• Tomorrow: 11:05 am game versus Syracuse (Starter TBA)

AA Harrisburg

• 10-1 loss tonight at Reading
• Isaac Lyon (AA Debut): 4.1 innings, 5 hits, 3 runs, 1 walk, 3 strikeouts (6.23 ERA)
• Caleb Lomavita: 2-4, double (.224 BA, .709 OPS)
• Marcus Brown: 1-2, double (.257 BA, .762 OPS)
• Tomorrow: 11:00 am game at Reading (Alex Clemmey pitching)

High-A Wilmington

• 6-0 loss tonight at Brooklyn
• Alexander Meckley (High-A debut): 2.1 innings, 3 hits, 3 runs, 3 walks, 2 strikeouts (11.57 ERA)
• Devin Fitz-Gerald: 1-4 (.298 BA, 1.020 OPS)
• Ronny Cruz: 1-4 (.217 BA, .620 OPS)
• Kevin Bazzell: 1-2 (.269 BA, .810 OPS)
• Tomorrow: 6:00 game at Brooklyn (Gavin Bruni pitching)

Low-A Fredericksburg

• 5-3 loss tonight at Delmarva
• Liam Sullivan: 3 innings, 3 hits, 4 runs, 4 walks, 2 strikeouts (7.77 ERA)
• Levi Huesman: 3 innings, 2 hits, 0 runs, 1 walk, 4 strikeouts (4.91 ERA)
• Eli Willits: 2-5 (.280 BA, .867 OPS)
• Gavin Fien: 0-5 (.180 BA, .561 OPS)
• Luke Dickerson: 1-3, home run (6), RBI, walk (.224 BA, .784 OPS)
• Jack Moroknek: 2-4 (.324 BA, .991 OPS)
• Juan Cruz: 2-4, home run (4), 2 RBIs (.282 BA, .789 OPS)
• Tomorrow: 6:05 game at Delmarva (Starter TBA)