The game wasn’t in doubt, but CJ Abrams had a chance to put his stamp on it and delivered.
With an eight-run Nationals lead and the bases loaded in the eighth inning, Abrams jumped on a 2-1 sinker and cleared the bases with a grand slam. The Nationals’ offense exploded in their 15-2 win over the Twins.
“It’s great,” said Abrams, who went 3-for-5 with five RBIs. “It’s electric; it’s good vibes in here.”
After going scoreless over the first three innings, the Nationals scored in each of the next five. They hit a season-high four homers.
Five Nationals (James Wood, Jacob Young, Abrams, Brady House and Drew Millas) recorded at least two hits. The Nationals were making loud contact on most pitches in the strike zone.
Before the game, manager Blake Butera said he wanted to see his team make more adjustments midgame instead of waiting until after the game. That’s the sign of a team maturing and a result of the rigorous pregame meetings the players go through.
He was proud of the way the hitters were communicating between at-bats after facing Bailey Ober. The game plan was for the Nationals to be ready for his off-speed pitches. But Ober started going with his fastball inside to set up the off-speed pitches.
Abrams popped up in his first appearance against Ober. But in his second he worked a six-pitch at-bat that ended in an RBI double off a slider in the zone.
“Our hitting coaches did a tremendous job of recognizing that [sequencing change the] first time through,” Butera said. “Then our players just [started] talking with one another about what they were seeing, how they were getting attacked.”
Aside from the numbers they put on the scoreboard, the Nationals played the brand of baseball they want to sustain. The pitching did enough to keep them in the game, the offense cashed in runs to give them the lead, and some heady baserunning put runners in scoring position.
Because of their attention to detail, the Nationals hammered the Twins’ pitching staff repeatedly when they made a mistake in the zone.
Aside from the conversations, the Nationals’ hitters just fed off one another.
“Today was more just like a momentum thing,” said Millas, who was 2-for-4 with a homer and a double. “You can feel it. CJ was going, [José] Tena was going, Brady got his hit and he hit a nice one off a righty, so it was good to feel the momentum, and it was really contagious.”
Miles Mikolas was adept at navigating the Twins’ lineup, inducing 12 groundouts with no walks and three strikeouts. He limited the barrels and stayed in the zone.
The offense was also opportunistic and downright lethal. With the Nationals trailing 1-0 in the fourth inning, Wood stole second base with no outs. After Daylen Lile struck out, Curtis Mead drew a walk to bring Abrams to the plate. Abrams rocketed a double to center field to tie the game before back-to-back flyouts by House and Tena.
In the fifth, Young hit a leadoff single, followed by Millas’ homer that gave the Nationals a 3-2 lead. The Nationals knocked Ober out of the game in the sixth after back-to-back doubles by Abrams and House. Tena also added a double, and Nasim Nuñez recorded a two-out RBI triple.
After a hot start, the Nationals had fallen into a slump. Entering Wednesday, the offense was last in batting average (.204) and weighted runs created plus (70).
After Ober came out with an altered game plan, the Nationals could have easily chalked it up as a good pitcher executing. But instead the team made adjustments and thrived later in the game. That’s tangible growth that the team has to maintain throughout the season.
“Our coaches can do all the homework they want to, but if a pitcher makes a slight change prior to that outing, it’s so important for our players that are in the box and seeing it to be able to relay what they’re seeing,” Butera said. “Maybe it’s slightly different than what we had planned going into the game, but because of those conversations, we’re able to make that adjustment midgame, and not just be like, ‘Oh, [the game plan] wasn’t what we thought it was.’
“It’s a good excuse to not have success tonight, or whatever it might be. That’s why those conversations are so important.”
This article has been updated.
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