Wood, the 21-year-old uber-prospect who officially arrived Monday, collected his first RBI with the knock off Jake Diekman. Moments before, he chatted with Jesse Winker in the on-deck circle, listening to the veteran’s tips about how to handle Diekman’s slicing sweeper. The southpaw deployed the pitch on each of his final four offerings of the at-bat. On the final one, Wood heeded Winker’s advice.
“I kind of didn’t listen the first couple of pitches,” Wood said with a grin in the clubhouse. “It was great. He walked me through it a bit. … I was just trying to get a piece of one.”
The Nationals’ bullpen held after that, and Luis García Jr. added his second homer of the night an inning later as insurance. But after a hitless night following his debut, Manager Dave Martinez moved Wood up to the No. 3 spot in the lineup, and the rookie added another first to his growing list of them — this one his first multi-hit game (2 for 3 with that RBI, a run and a walk). He also stole his first base after beating Diekman.
“Just looking at him, he’s a big guy,” García said. “He looks huge out there. But he’s a very good ballplayer. … We had confidence in him. We knew he was going to drive that run in.”
On Tuesday, Wood was responsible for the Nationals’ two hardest-hit balls, both of which went for groundouts. After the game, he said he wasn’t concerned — sometimes, he said, the ball just doesn’t find a hole. On Wednesday, it did.
“He’s got a nice two-strike approach, which is great, and he stayed in the middle of the field, which is what we preach all the time with two strikes,” Martinez said. “He’s going to show the power. He is. But for him to come up here and do what he’s doing … is huge.”
The timing coincided with Martinez front-loading his lineup with his best hitters — CJ Abrams at the top, followed by Thomas, Wood and Winker. Three of those hitters boast an OPS over .800 since June 1. The fourth was named the top prospect in baseball by Baseball America on Wednesday.
Whether that lineup could match the Mets, baseball’s top offense since June 1, was a shakier premise given the constraints from the back half of the lineup. That appeared even more tenuous when lefty Mitchell Parker was roughed up for five runs on three homers in six innings, putting his team in a 5-0 hole.
But this night, the bottom of that lineup produced. Ildemaro Vargas, who sports an OPS under .500 since the start of June, poked an RBI single through the infield to make it 5-1 in the fifth. In the sixth, after Wood and Winker singled, García blasted a three-run homer to right to make it 5-4.
On May 31, the Nationals were four games under .500, while the Mets were nine games under. New York has moved to 42-42 since then and is the only team in MLB averaging more than six runs over that stretch. The Nationals are now 40-46, the byproduct of a shaky offense and a bullpen in a tailspin after a series of late-inning meltdowns.
But Wednesday, the bullpen answered the call. Jacob Barnes, Robert Garcia, Hunter Harvey and Kyle Finnegan — all of whom had played a role in recent heartbreaks — combined for three scoreless innings. And Wood’s hit ultimately made a winner of Barnes.
“I didn’t want it to go to extra innings — let’s put it that way,” Martinez said. “I was just making a joke: Vargas would have had to pitch tomorrow. … But I got confidence in all those guys. They’ve been pitching well. The last two days shouldn’t dictate who they are.”
Notes: Before Wednesday’s game, the Nationals recalled catcher Riley Adams from Class AAA Rochester, optioning catcher Drew Millas to the Red Wings in a corresponding move. The Nationals hope Adams can inject some life into the offense. In 25 games with Washington, he sported a .635 OPS; in 22 with Rochester, his OPS sat at .946. Millas, a defense-first catcher, had a .519 OPS in 11 games.
The Nationals sent Adams down in June to give him consistent at-bats and some experience at first base amid their limited depth at the position. Given that he played just four games at first base with Rochester, though, Martinez said they would use him at that position only off the bench. He is slated to start at catcher Thursday.
“Getting the swing back, getting the timing back to where I wanted it was certainly a big focus,” Adams said. “Felt pretty comfortable [at first base].” …
The Nationals sent lefty reliever Jose A. Ferrer (right teres muscle strain) to Class AA Harrisburg for a rehab assignment. The Nationals want to see him pitch on back-to-back days before they recall him. He has been touching 99 mph without issue but has yet to pitch in a game at any level this season.
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