The Washington Nationals put it together in every facet as Daylen Lile did it again to his hometown team as the Kentucky kid who grew up as a Reds fan gave the Nats a 3-0 lead that evaporated — and then the new kid, Harry Ford, showed that he’s Ford tough — and hit the game winning 2-run homer that held up tanks to the bullpen. Major props to Yovanny Cruz for saving the game in the 7ᵗʰ inning — even though it wasn’t technically a save.

How many times will we see a starter shoved for an extra inning to end the wrong way? Cade Cavalli went into that 7ᵗʰ inning, and it was really just a case of bad luck as the first two runners got on-base. The Nats 2-run lead could have evaporated quickly — but Crews Cruz saved the day. A strikeout and a double play kept the Reds from scoring.

Manager Blake Butera and his 57-61 team have a new day and a new challenge. Chase Burns, the team’s best starting pitcher is the new challenge du jour. His microscopic 2.35 ERA looks unbeatable but he has been beaten. The Nats will need a great pitching performance from Andrew Alvarez.

There were no roster moves today on the MLB side.

❝We’re not losing hope by any means. We’re going to have to grind out some games, like we did tonight. But at the end of the day, we’ll do whatever it takes to find wins.❞

— manager Blake Butera said earlier in the week

On offense, the Nats have the 1st in MLB for the most runs scored this season at 628 runs, and that is an impressive 5.32 runs per game. With the Nats pitching giving up 4.76 earned runs per game, the difference is really those pesky unearned runs due to the errors. Overall, the Nats have a +16 run differential on the season.

Here is manager Blake Butera‘s bullpen chart:

The FanGraphs WAR chart is now large in its sample size. You can certainly start to extrapolate the numbers for the full-season. The OAA defense stat is now giving us a picture of what the Nats have — and don’t have.

Cincinnati Reds vs. Washington Nationals

Stadium: Nationals Park, Washington, DC
1st Pitch: 6:45PM EDT
TV: Nationals.TV
Radio: 106.7 The Fan radio and via the MLB app. On Sirius/XM, tune to Channel 178 for the home broadcast and the road team is online only.

Photo by Marlene Koenig/Nats.Talk