Washington Nationals defeat the Tampa Bay Rays, 8-1

Tampa, FL - Today, the Washington Nationals defeated the Tampa Bay Rays 8-1.

The Nationals have a record of 39-43 and are 22-24 on the road this season. The Nationals are 12-8 since June 7 and 18-16 since May 24.

The Nationals are still within reach of achieving their first winning record during a month since 2019 now that they are 13-13 during June.

Getting the start for the Nationals in today’s game was RHP Jake Irvin who entered today’s with a 2.18 ERA (10 ER/41.1 IP) with 43 strikeouts over his last seven starts.

Today, Irvin got the start for the Nationals and went 6.0 innings, giving up one run on one hit. Irvin threw 96 pitches, 57 being strikes and facing 21 batters. Irvin earned his sixth win this season as he is now at .500 and has a record of 6-6 with a 3.03 ERA.

The Nationals bullpen did not give up any runs and only one hit in today’s game, thanks to performances from RHP Derek Law, RHP Hunter Harvey, and RHP Kyle Finnegan.

On the offensive side of the ball, the Nationals put together eight runs on 13 hits thanks to RBIs from CJ Abrams, Harold Ramírez, Jesse Winker, and others. The 13 hits tied a single-inning season-high for the team.

The Nationals got off to an early lead in the game thanks to a CJ Abrams homerun in the top of the first. The Abrams home run came on the very first pitch of the game.

Getting his third leadoff home run this season tied Abrams for the fourth-most in a season in Nationals history (2005-pres.). The only players with more leadoff homers in a season for the Washington Nationals were Alfonso Soriano with nine in 2006, Kyle Schwarber with seven in 2021, and Trea Turner with four in 2017.

Smart base running by Luis García Jr., by scoring from third base on a wild pitch, the Nationals added another run in the top of the fourth, giving the Nationals a 2-1 lead.

The Nationals would add six runs in the top of the seventh, which started with an RBI double by CJ Abrams, which narrowly missed his second-of-the-day home run.

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After some smart running by Abrams and RBIs from Jesse Winker, a two-run RBI from Luis García Jr., a two-run RBI triple by Harold Ramírez, and a Keibert Ruiz RBI single, the Nationals plated an additional five runs in the top of the seven to give the Nationals an 8-1 lead entering the later part of the game. The Nationals were able to turn things around tonight, as the team went 5-for-12 with runners in scoring position, an improvement from last night’s loss when they went 0-for-6.

The Nationals will send LHP Patrick Corbin (1-7, 5.46) to the mound tomorrow, who is still searching for his second win this season.

LHP Patrick Corbin has pitched to a 2.60 ERA over his last three starts. Corbin has held opponents to a .197 average against (12-for-61) with 16 strikeouts in 17.1 innings in those three games.

The Tampa Bay Rays will send RHP Taj Bradley (2-4, 3.81) to the mound to face the Nationals.

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