It’s not exactly clear when Nationals outfielder Daylen Lile found his swing again.
Ask Lile and he’ll point to that 10th-inning go-ahead single in Washington’s win over the Orioles last Saturday. Manager Blake Butera, meanwhile, called Lile’s double Wednesday a, “That’s-what-it-looks -like-when-he’s-going-well moment.”
The exact marker of when Lile’s turnaround began is not as meaningful as the fact that he’s finally starting to resemble the dynamic hitter he was to end the 2025 season. That continued Friday night in the team’s 9-5 win over the Pirates.
“He puts a lot of pressure on himself, [he’s] such a good hitter and to see him have the night that he had tonight was awesome,” Butera said.
Friday was a superb showing by Lile, who was 3-for-4 with a double and two homers. He feasted on pitches down in the zone for hard-contact hits.
The 23-year-old had largely been quiet this season. He entered Friday batting .250 with a .700 OPS, numbers that are largely unremarkable and don’t nearly compare to the .391/.440/.772 slash line he authored in September 2025 — which won him both National League Rookie and Player of the month.
But his follow-up campaign has been a struggle at the plate. Outside of going 5-for-14 and carrying Washington in a series win against the Reds in May, Lile has been largely dormant at the plate.
“Everybody in this locker room reminded me that I am a good baseball player,” Lile said. “I should trust and believe in myself.”
His conviction is turning into production, which adds another wrinkle to the Nationals’ high-scoring offense.
Lile hammered a first-pitch sweeper off right-hander Mitch Keller for a solo homer — his first homer since June 5 — in the second inning that gave the Nationals a 2-0 lead.
In the third, right fielder James Wood recorded his first triple of the season and scored after José Tena hammered a two-run homer to center field to give the Nationals a 4-1 lead. Then, with two outs and CJ Abrams on second, Lile delivered a two-out RBI double that extended the Nationals’ lead to four.
Keller allowed a triple, two doubles and three homers.
That was plenty of support for Foster Griffin, who threw five innings of one-run ball with two strikeouts and one walk. He’s been a bargain for the Nationals (46-43) after signing a one-year, $5.5 million contract. After Friday’s start, Griffin has the ninth-lowest ERA in the National League (2.87), and opponents are batting .210 against him.
With the heat making his hand sweaty and gripping the ball difficult, Griffin said he had to grind through this outing. Friday’s weather reminded him of Japan, where the summers were hot and humid.
“Battle the elements, the other team has to do the same thing, so you got to grind through it,” Griffin said.
After allowing him to exceed 100 pitches in back-to-back starts, Butera decided to ease Griffin’s workload on Friday and turned the ball over to the Nationals’ beleaguered bullpen after the fifth inning.
Right-hander Justin Lawrence’s command issues were on display in the seventh as he allowed a double and back-to-back walks to load the bases with two outs. But Butera brought on Clayton Beeter, who struck out Bryan Reynolds to end the inning.
“That was the game,” Butera said of Beeter’s strikeout.
Right-hander Zak Kent allowed four runs on seven hits with one strikeout over two innings but did close out the game.
Luis García Jr. recorded his fourth multi-homer game of the season and continued thriving off fastballs up above the zone. He’s tied a career high for homers in a season (18) and is tied for third in the National League in RBIs (63). His jovial personality might be just as important to the Nationals’ success.
Garcia is often seen joking in the clubhouse and has a good feel for the pulse of the team. That helps alleviate some of the pressure on players like Lile, who demands so much of himself.
“I’m really happy for [Lile],” Garcia said through a team interpreter, “especially through the stretch that he was having, and coming in today [with] two home runs, [and] a double.”
Lile’s struggles have gnawed at him throughout the year and he’s relied on teammates to buoy him.
Butera joked about how nice it was to see the stoic, intense Lile crack a smile after the win.
“It’s just awesome to be around and surrounded by people that actually care and see something that I might not see in myself,” Lile said.
Comments
Welcome to The Banner's subscriber-only commenting community. Please review our community guidelines.