After a disappointing start to the traditional work week (Monday), the Nationals are back above .500 as they’ve now taken the first two from Arizona with today’s 6-1 victory in the desert.

It was a pitching clinic from pitching coach Simon Mathews‘ unit, as Zack Littell set the tone with five innings of one-run ball, and Orlando Ribalta, Mitchell Parker, and Brad Lord threw the final four innings without even allowing a hit. On the offensive side, Curtis Mead set the tone with a big two-run homer in the first inning, and Dylan Crews delivered later in the game with his third bomb of the season to really frustrate D’Backs’ pitch Eduardo Rodriguez who arguably had his worst start of his season as he entered the game with a 2.24 ERA — and the Nats tagged him for 4-earnies and the loss.

The Action

As noted above, this one got underway with a jolt, as the Nationals took advantage of a leadoff single by James Wood, bringing him in to score on a two-run blast by Curtis Mead to make it 2-0 just two batters into the game. From that point on into the middle innings, it was nothing but dominance on the mound from both Zack Littell.

The Nationals snagged that two-run lead in the first and the score would remain 2-0 throughout the early part of the ballgame, as Littell was rendering Arizona’s offense completely useless. In fact, he did not allow his first hit until the bottom half of the fifth.

Coincidentally, that’s also when the Diamondbacks got their lone run, as LuJames Groover lined a base hit to center that appeared to skip by the glove of Jacob Young, and the first run scored. Groover got all the way around to third base on the play that initially was scored a single and 2-base error. We only saw one angle of the play on replay.

That 2-1 score was as close as this game would get, as the Nats’ bullpen took over in the sixth inning, beginning with Orlando Ribalta. Ribalta allowed a leadoff walk, but escaped the inning by facing the minimum, thanks to a double play ball.

• Zack Littell: 5 innings, 2 hits, 1 run (1 earned), 1 walk, 4 strikeouts, 64 pitches
• Eduardo Rodriguez: 6.1 innings, 6 hits, 4 runs (4 earned), 1 walk, 5 strikeouts, 92 pitches

The seventh inning began with a bang, as Dylan Crews provided some much-needed insurance with a huge blast to left field for his third home run of the season.

“It’s one of the best feelings ever. It’s what you work for every day.”

— Crews said after the game on his home run

A safety squeeze bunt by Nasim Nunez later in the inning would score Young who hit a triple and that extea run provided even more breathing room, and just like that, the Nats held a 4-1 advantage with nine outs left to get.

Mitchell Parker got three of those outs without trouble in the seventh even though all three outs were long flyouts, and in the bottom of the eighth he turned the game over to Brad Lord. Brad navigated the eighth perfectly, and in the ninth inning, he picked up a little more insurance which allowed him to stay out there in the 9th inning.

Washington got their first run of the ninth inning from a Nasim Nunez RBI single, and added another tally on an RBI ground ball by Keibert Ruiz to give us the 6-1 score that would be our final. Brad Lord finished off the ballgame with a 1-2-3 ninth inning, as the Nationals’ pitching staff faced the minimum over the final 4.1 innings of the game.

What’s Next?

The Nationals will go for the sweep tomorrow afternoon, with game three getting underway at 3:15. It’ll come against a familiar face, as Mike Soroka (7-3, 3.49 ERA) will take the hill for the Diamondbacks, one year removed from wearing the curly W on his chest. He’ll square off against Cade Cavalli (3-3, 3.62 ERA), who has just began to really pitch like an ace and show consistent flashes of what we all hoped he could be.

Down on the Farm

AAA Rochester

• 3-2 loss today at Lehigh Valley
• Andry Lara: 4.1 innings, 6 hits, 3 runs, 2 walks, 4 strikeouts (5.95 ERA)
• Christian Franklin: 1-3, double, walk (.266 BA, .759 OPS)
• YoYo Morales: 1-3, home run (14), 2 RBIs (.340 BA, 1.011 OPS)
• Tomorrow: 1:15 game at Lehigh Valley (Carson Palmquist pitching)

AA Harrisburg

• 5-2 loss today versus Somerset
• Isaac Lyon: 4.1 innings, 5 hits, 5 runs, 3 walks, 6 strikeouts (8.74 ERA)
• Connor Van Scoyoc: 2.2 innings, 1 hit, 0 runs, 0 walks, 4 strikeouts (3.16 ERA)
• Sandy Gaston: 1 inning, 1 hit, 3 strikeouts (6.18 ERA)
• Thomas Schultz: 1 inning, 3 strikeouts (4.56 ERA)
• Sam Brown: 1-3, 2 walks (.242 BA, .748 OPS)
• Maxwell Romero: 1-4, home run (11), RBI, walk (.293 BA, 1.050 OPS)
• Tomorrow: 1:00 game versus Somerset (Alex Clemmey pitching)

High-A Wilmington

• 5-2 loss today versus Bowling Green
• Alexander Meckley: 5 innings, 3 hits, 2 runs, 2 walks, 5 strikeouts (4.38 ERA)
• Ronny Cruz: 2-4 (.219 BA, .612 OPS)
• Kevin Bazzell: 3-4, double, RBI (.316 BA, .849 OPS)
• T.J. White: 1-4, double (.263 BA, .852 OPS)
• Tomorrow: 1:05 game versus Bowling Green (Gavin Bruni pitching)

Low-A Fredericksburg

• 8-0 win today versus Hill City
• Liam Sullivan: 6 innings, 1 hit, 0 runs, 1 walk, 6 strikeouts (5.70 ERA)
• Eli Willits: 3-4, triple, RBI, walk (.299 BA, .911 OPS)
• Gavin Fien: 1-2, 5 RBIs, walk (.225 BA, .715 OPS)
• Luke Dickerson: 1-4, home run (7), RBI, walk (.221 BA, .776 OPS)
• Tomorrow: 1:35 game versus Hill City (Carson Fischer pitching)