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.
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.
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.
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 Nats, 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.
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.
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 the young Nats still had some fight in them. And thanks to shutout performances from Jackson Rutledge, Shinnosuke Ogasawara (who earned his first win), Jose A. Ferrer and Cole Henry (who recorded his first career save) out of the bullpen, they started this homestand with a win over a first-place team.