Well, after last night’s disaster, all is well for the Nats’ three-game series win against the Rockies. Things were going to be pretty drab for this team if last night was the difference between a series win and a loss, but thankfully, the Nationals got a tremendous outing from Cade Cavalli and a six-run seventh inning from the offense to pace the boys to an 8-0 series-winning Curly W.

The Action

The game was locked in a scoreless tie over the first four innings, as both Cade Cavalli and Gabriel Hughes were on point this afternoon. The Nats had an excellent opportunity in the top of the second inning, but squandered the back-to-back singles they put together to lead off the inning.

The first real opportunity of the day for the Rockies came in the bottom of the third. Jake McCarthy hit a one-out double, setting himself up in scoring position for Mickey Moniak and Hunter Goodman, two of their best bats. Still, Cade Cavalli buckled in and retired them both to escape the jam and keep the ballgame scoreless.

The Nationals had men on first and second with one out in the top half of the fourth, but that opportunity went by the wayside again with two straight flyouts by Daylen Lile and Keibert Ruiz. Colorado had that same opportunity in the bottom half of the fourth, but Cavalli struck out the next two hitters to escape another jam unscathed.

The Nationals finally broke through against Hughes in the fifth, taking advantage of a leadoff triple by Jorbit Vivas. James Wood did his job with one out, bringing Vivas home on a sacrifice fly to put the Nats ahead 1-0.

Cavalli continued to shove into the middle innings, now with a lead to work with. After retiring the side in the fifth, he surrendered a leadoff single in the sixth before putting down the next three hitters to finish his day off. The six scoreless innings this afternoon were the latest in what’s been a stretch of outings from Cavalli in which he’s really begun to look like the ace that everyone has been hoping he could be.

• Cade Cavalli: 6 innings, 4 hits, 0 runs, 2 walks, 8 strikeouts, 90 pitches
• Gabriel Hughes: 5 innings, 5 hits, 1 run, 1 walk, 5 strikeouts, 88 pitches

The Nationals’ offense broke the game wide open in the top of the seventh. After two walks to open the inning, Nasim Nunez drove them both in on a base hit to left field that was misplayed by Moniak, allowing both runners to score and Nunez to make it to second. He didn’t stay there long, as two batters later Luis Garcia blasted his 21st homer of the season to make it 5-0 Nats and bring the boys to the doorstep of another series win.

The inning continued, still with two outs, as the Nats strung together three straight singles, the third being a two-run single by Dylan Crews, aided by two throwing errors on what ended up being a circus play that resulted in a 7-0 Washington lead.

Eddy Yean, just back up from Triple-A, continued to impress at the big league level. Yean came out of the pen in relief of Cavalli in the bottom of the seventh and proceeded to throw two scoreless innings to bridge the gap to the ninth inning.

He even got one final insurance run in the top of the eighth off the bat of Nasim Nunez, who went the other way on an 0-2 splitter for an RBI single, scoring Keibert Ruiz to make it 8-0.

Max Kranick came in out of the bullpen and put the ballgame away in the ninth inning despite a little bit of traffic. That put a bow on an 8-0 win for the good guys, bringing their record back above .500 once again, and locking down another road series win.

“This felt like a really important game for us. I’m sure they all are, hopefully, down the stretch. But for whatever reason, this one felt like it was extremely important for us to come out with a win, and we leaned on [Cavalli] — and he answered for us.” — Blake Butera

What’s Next?

The Nats have an off-day tomorrow as they fly back home and prepare for a key homestand, where they will have an opportunity against some below-average competition to draw even in the wild card standings. Baseball in DC is fun again, with every game being meaningful for playoff standings. This is the feeling we’ve missed for so long, Nats fans; we ought to bask in this each and every day. The Diamondbacks will be coming to town this weekend for a three-game series beginning on Friday night. First pitch will be thrown by Zack Littell (7-7, 5.34 ERA) at 6:45, with the Arizona started yet to be announced.

Down on the Farm

AAA Rochester

• 9-2 loss tonight at Buffalo
• Philip Glasser: 1-4, double (.303 BA, .722 OPS)
• Brady House: 1-4, home run (8), RBI (.296 BA, .825 OPS)
• Tomorrow: 6:35 game at Buffalo (Jackson Kent pitching)

AA Harrisburg

• 12-2 win today versus Reading
• Riley Maddox: 5 innings, 2 hits, 0 runs, 2 walks, 6 strikeouts (3.18 ERA)
• Devin Fitz-Gerald: 2-5, double, RBI (.194 BA, .505 OPS)
• Brandon Boissiere: 2-5, double, 3 RBIs (.247 BA, .722 OPS)
• Kervin Pichardo: 3-5, 2 RBIs (.243 BA, .699 OPS)
• Ethan Petry: 2-5, home run (7), 2 RBIs (.222 BA, .781 OPS)
• TJ White: 1-4, home run (4), 2 RBIs (.193 BA, .585 OPS)
• Caleb Farmer: 2-3, triple, walk (.286 BA, .1071 OPS)
• Jonathon Thomas: 2-4, home run (3), 2 RBIs (.231 BA, .647 OPS)
• Tomorrow: 6:30 game versus Reading (Issac Lyon pitching)

High-A Wilmington

• Liam Sullivan: 5 innings, 4 hits, 2 runs, 0 walks, 4 strikeouts (4.91 ERA)
• Jacob Walsh: 3-4, home run (6), 2 RBIs (.254 BA, .760 OPS)
• Elijah Green: 3-4, double (.226 BA, .701 OPS)
• Tomorrow: Doubleheader beginning at 4:30 (Mikey Tepper pitching)

Low-A Fredericksburg

• 9-6 win today versus Fayetteville
• Travis Sthele: 5.1 innings, 4 hits, 1 earned run, 1 walk, 2 strikeouts (0.31 ERA)
• Gavin Fien: 2-4, double, RBI, walk (.248 BA, .765 OPS)
• Nick Peoples: 1-3, home run (7), 3 RBIs, walk (.180 BA, .659 OPS)
• Tomorrow: 6:35 game versus Fayetteville (Levi Huesman pitching)