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The Nationals sent a message when they designated struggling first baseman Nathaniel Lowe for assignment this afternoon to make room for Dylan Crews’s return: "We want to see the young kids. ... We want to see what they can do,” said interim manager Miguel Cairo ahead of tonight’s four-game series opener against the Phillies.
Sure enough, Cairo started four of his five young outfielders, with James Wood serving as the designated hitter, Daylen Lile playing left field, Jacob Young in center and Crews back in right.
But it was another young player Cairo chose to start tonight that came up clutch for the Nats against this veteran Phillies squad in a 3-2 victory in front of an announced crowd of 21,609 on South Capitol Street.
“I gotta tell you, that's a game that you look at it and it's like a playoff game," Cairo said after the win. "That's the way you play games like this. Good pitching, good defense, opportune hitting. It was nice to see our pitchers, our defense, our hitters really engage in the game and doing the little things. That's what we did today. They picked each other up.”
Of the five young outfielders, three of them are left-handed hitters, so one of them figured to sit to start this one. The odd-man out was Robert Hassell III. And Cairo also figured this was a good time to give shortstop CJ Abrams a breather after he played 24 straight games and with tough left-hander Jesús Luzardo starting for the visitors. So Paul DeJong started at shortstop and José Tena started at second base for just his fifth appearance since being recalled from Triple-A Rochester 2 ½ weeks ago.
Trailing 2-1 in the seventh, the Nats finally got to Luzardo after he held them to one run and three hits with seven strikeouts over the first six frames. The Nats knocked him from the game by loading the bases without recording an out on DeJong’s leadoff walk, Riley Adams’ deep double (that fell just barely short of a two-run blast) and Lile’s walk.
After Luis García Jr. pinch-hit for Brady House and popped up in shallow left against right-handed reliever Orion Kerkering, Tena ripped a ball the other way for a go-ahead, two-run single to left.
“It felt really good. We needed that hit to drive in the runs and get the lead," Tena said, via interpreter Mauricio Ortiz.
Even though he wasn’t as dominant as he was here in the second game of the season, when he struck out 11 over five frames, the former Nats farmhand was just as effective against these new-look Nationals, particularly with his sweeper.
The only real damage done against Luzardo was DeJong’s solo homer in the fourth, as one of the few remaining veterans ironically gave the Nats some juice on a night when they were trying to go younger.
Crews also had a solid night returning from the 60-day injured list with a left oblique strain, singling in his first at-bat and making a diving catch on a low liner in right.
And Brad Lord did what he has mostly done during his time back in the starting rotation: He kept his team in the game.
The rookie right-hander had another impressive outing against the dangerous Phillies lineup by holding them to two runs on seven hits, one walk and three strikeouts.
“Mindset was just going in to attack these guys," Lord said. "Not fall behind. They're a really good hitting team when they're ahead in counts. And so the goal was just to stay on the attack and make them put the ball in play.”
Though he gave up a few too many two-out baserunners, Lord did a good job of inducing weak contact from the Philly sluggers. The Phillies scored their first run in the third on three softly hit balls – a dribbler double down the left field line, an infield single and a fielder’s choice groundout.
“It's encouraging because you know you made the right pitch," Lord said of the weak contact. "And obviously it's a little frustrating whenever it's hit too soft. But you just kind of let it roll off your back and just keep attacking.”
Then Trea Turner hit a two-out infield single in the fifth and scored on Kyle Schwarber’s double off the center field wall to give the Phillies a 2-1 lead. But Lord still departed the game with his team well within striking distance and his ERA over his last five starts since rejoining the rotation down to 2.77.
“The key is just finding that consistent routine, day in and day out," he said. "It kind of keeps you focused, keeps you locked in. And start day, it's all about just executing one pitch at a time.”
Cairo then entrusted the rest of the game to his bullpen. And he was not shy with his aggressiveness.
After shutout performances from Jackson Rutledge and Shinnosuke Ogasawara, and suddenly with a one-run leadk, the interim skipper called upon his newly ordained closer Jose A. Ferrer to face Bryce Harper, J.T. Realmuto and pinch-hitter Harrison Bader in the eighth. And although Bader singled with two outs, the young lefty struck out Nick Castellanos with a low changeup to end the inning.
That left rookie Cole Henry for the ninth, with a pair of left-handed hitters due up. He surrendered a leadoff single to Max Kepler, who advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt and third on a groundout to first. But the young righty struck out Trea Turner with a well-inside sinker that fooled the former Nationals shortstop for his first career save and Ogasawara's first win.
“I thought that the game would be in the eighth," Cairo said. "You got the best hitter coming up. You got Harper, you got Castellanos. I wanted them to face my best pitcher. And in the inning, my closer is Ferrer. And Cole did an excellent job coming in and saving the game.”
“A lot of emotions," Henry said. "First off, I just want to shout out Brad, Shin, Rut and Ferrer for getting me to that point. Unbelievable stuff by them. Shout out the offense for manufacturing a couple of runs and getting us in the lead. And I just felt like I had to go out there and shut it down for the team. And I was glad to be able to do that. Hopefully we can keep stacking them.”
These Nats may be young, but they still have some fight in them as they started this homestand with a win over a first-place team. They're going to have to harness that mentality in order to keep stacking victories over the season's last 41 games.
“We're not out of it. We're still here. We're playing. And we're going to be spoilers," Cairo said. "Today we beat a really good team. People think it's easy, they (games against the Nats) are going to be easy. No, they're not going to be easy. We got hungry players. They want to prove that they can play in the big leagues. They want to stay in the big leagues and they want to play every day. And it was fun to watch the young kids. They did an excellent job.”
“It's awesome," Henry said. "Like you said, it just kind of speaks to what this team could be. It's just a team full of young guys and a couple of vets that have been helping us throughout the season try to mold into good Major League Baseball players. And so I'm glad that we could all go out there and kind of trust in ourselves and trust in each other to win baseball games and compete at the highest level. And I think that we'll just get closer and closer throughout the end of the season, and then hopefully we can build on that going into next season.”
