Washington Nationals 2025 Season

THE LEAD

Pitcher wins are not a big deal anymore in the statistical community or in front offices across baseball (although maybe they still are on South Capitol Street). But they do matter to the pitchers, and so Brad Lord got the customary beer shower for his first such victory as a major league pitcher in the clubhouse last night after his teammates nailed down a 4-2 win to salvage the series finale in Philadelphia. There may have also been some celebrating on the team plane to the Queen City. Lord may yet get bumped back to the bullpen when Michael Soroka returns from the injured list (perhaps as soon as next week), but he did his best to show that he belongs in the MLB rotation a little bit longer.

 Washington Nationals 2025 Season

Game Recap

The Nationals parlayed a botched grounder from old frenemy Bryce Harper and a double steal into four sixth-inning runs last night, then held their breath as the bullpen (two innings from Jose A. Ferrer, one each from Jorge López and Kyle Finnegan) pitched four scoreless frames to keep it a 4-2 game (although Finnegan surrendered a two-out triple in the ninth to keep it interesting, as he is wont to do). Ferrer in particular had a major bounce-back outing, completing those two innings on thirty pitches despite getting drilled by batted balls from the first two hitters he faced.

The Nationals start a three-game series in Cincinnati this evening at 6:10, with Mitchell Parker squaring off against Hunter Greene.

 STORY TYPE

New Lefty Alert!

With May 1 being an opt-out day for many veterans who signed minor league contracts at the start of the season, the Nats took the opportunity to (finally) make their first bullpen move of the season, designating Colin Poche for assignment and signing Kenny Powers, er, Andrew Chafin from the Tigers’ organization to replace him. The Sheriff has appeared in 508 1/3 innings across 601 MLB games with a 3.42 ERA and 1.27 WHIP, and has a reputation as a great clubhouse guy (I mean, just look at him). It was clearly time to move on from Poche, who had lost all semblance of command this year. Hopefully Chafin can be a better option as the second southpaw out of the pen.

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 WHAT WE THINK THE NATIONALS FRONT OFFICE IS READING

Speed Reads

📌 Surprise Disappointments Across MLB (Fangraphs)

📌 Top Prospect April Performances (The Athletic)

📌 Is Judge Even Better? (Yahoo!)