It took a little bit for the Nats to wake up in this one, as they battled the strikeout bug for the early part of this game. But once they got to Chase Burns it was all over. A strong offensive performance was backed by an excellent night from Brad Lord and the bullpen to get them through the finish line tonight.
In his return to the starting rotation today, Lord was effective through three innings — and Lord and Burns had matched each other zero for zero. The Reds were the first ones to break through, doing so in the top of the fourth on an RBI single by Gavin Lux. Lord would get through the frame without any further damage, and would finish his night down 1-0 after four innings of one-run ball.
The Nats’ offense decided to check into the game in the bottom of that inning, as Josh Bell added to his unbelievable hot stretch of games with a solo home run off a hanging slider to knot this game at one.
While Burns was virtually unhittable through the first three innings, the Nats really got to him in the middle innings. Back-to-back RBI doubles by Jacob Young and CJ Abrams in the bottom of the fifth would make it a 3-1 lead for the homestanders. The big blow came in the bottom of the sixth, as Washington loaded the bases with nobody out, then the next two hitters both got out, giving Burns a golden opportunity at ending the inning unscathed. Then Riley Adams laced a line drive the other way into right field that would eventually clear the bases after an error, and just like that it was a 6-1 ballgame.
- Chase Burns: 5.2 innings, 7 hits, 6 runs (5 earned), 2 walks, 10 strikeouts, 98 pitches
- Brad Lord: 4 innings, 6 hits, 1 run (1 earned), 0 walks, 1 strikeout, 50 pitches
The Nats bullpen made sure the score stayed right there, Konnor Pilkington tossed two scoreless innings in his Nats debut and got credited with the win in his first MLB game since 2023. Then Luis Garcia, Andrew Chafin, and Andry Lara all threw up scoreless frames of their own to give the Nationals the series-clinching win on Tuesday night in front of 29,071 fans at the ballpark.
For tonight’s positives, the pitching staff as a whole gets a shootout. Lord, Pilkington, Garcia, Chafin, and Lara all were great tonight, stifling that Cincinnati offense all night. Offensively, there were no multi-hit games from the Nats but Luis Garcia and Josh Bell did reach base twice each.
The Nats have a chance tomorrow to get a sweep, which would be their first since May 18th in Baltimore. The final game of the series will get going at 12:05 tomorrow afternoon, Michael Soroka (3-7, 5.10 ERA) will get the ball for the Nats in what needs to be a better outing from him than what we’ve gotten lately. Nick Lodolo (7-6, 3.33 ERA) will be on the mound for the Reds, a tall lefty with excellent stuff, he will pose a unique challenge to the Nationals’ hitters. Regardless of outcome tomorrow, the Nationals have finally won a series! Tomorrow let’s sit back and have an stress-free game knowing the works already been done.
