James Wood might have fixed himself last night, folks. Two ringing doubles - at 112 and 116 mph off the bat - and two walks in six trips to the plate are better than he’s been in about two weeks. When a hitter has this good of an eye for the strike zone and makes hard contact, their slumps typically don’t last too long. Hopefully, this game kick-starts something for Wood; it’s hard for the Nats to win games when he doesn’t produce something at the dish.

Wood was one of SIX Nationals to have a multi-hit day, along with all of the starters save Nathaniel Lowe (who walked three times - feels like it’s been a minute since that happened), CJ Abrams (a hit and a walk), and Amed Rosario (1-for-5 while starting against a righty for reasons known only to Miguel Cairo). The Nats cashed in seven times in twenty (!!!) opportunities with men on base to score ten runs overall, including four in the first courtesy of Wood’s first double and a bases-loaded triple by Daylen Lile. It was a banner performance from an offense that has looked moribund for much of the past six weeks.

The pitching side did not go as well. Spotted a 7-0 lead, Irvin led off the fourth with back-to-back walks, prompting the first mound visit of the day, and then allowed four consecutive singles before finally stemming some of the bleeding on a double play (a fifth run still scored on). A day after Miguel Cairo used seven relievers, Irvin was unable to finish the fourth (he followed the GIDP with another walk and was promptly pulled for Mason Thompson)…and Brad Lord is making his first start in over two months tomorrow with a cap of roughly fifty pitches. Thompson or Jackson Rutledge might need to go to Rochester tomorrow just so that the Nats have enough arms to finish the series, let alone the week.

Pitching Matchup Breakdown: Chase Burns vs. Brad Lord Set for Game Two of Reds-Nationals Series

If Josh Bell winds up on a playoff team in a couple of weeks, he might want to think about sending a nice dinner to Reds starter Brady Singer, off of whom he blasted an upper-deck shot and a double that would have been a home run in seventeen other parks. Since a low point of .130/.225/.278 when he woke up on May 11th, Bell has hit .278/.361/.428 with a sustainable .301 BABIP. His bat, especially against right-handed pitchers, would look great as the strong-side DH for a couple of teams.

Amed Rosario, however, looks like his only utility is as a short-side DH, with brutal defense and a bat that is borderline unplayable against righties. While his 113 OPS+ is the fourth-highest on the team, he might not have a dance partner and be this year’s César Hernández instead.

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