Los Angeles, CA - Well, the Washington Nationals West Coast road trip concluded today with a 2-0 win against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodgers Stadium. With today’s win against the Dodgers, the Nationals got their first shutout of the season this afternoon and are now 8-10 as they come out of this West Coast road trip and head home to face the Houston Astros and then the Dodgers next week in D.C.

Additionally, with the Nationals winning today’s game, manager Davey Martinez secured his 400th win with the Washington Nationals. Martinez is the longest-tenured and has the most wins as a manager in Nationals History.

The Nationals will end their West Coast road trip with a winning record of 5-4 and an impressive series win against the Dodgers. The Nationals were close to coming out of this trip, winning all three series on this three-city road trip. One bad inning in Oakland prevented the Nationals from accomplishing this.

Here is how the road trip went:

• San Fransico vs. Nationals ( 8-1 (w); 5-3 (w); 1-7 (l) )
• Oakland Athletics vs. Nationals ( 1-2 (l); 3-1 (w); 6-7 (l) )
• Los Angeles Dodgers (6-4 (w); 2-6 (l); 2-0 (w) )

Getting his first win of the 2024 season, right-handed pitcher Jake Irvin delivered another outstanding performance, pitching 6.0 innings of shutout baseball and skillfully navigating through a formidable lineup. Irvin yielded only four hits while striking out six batters and walking one. Throughout the game, he faced 19 batters and threw 62 pitches, with 46 of those pitches being strikes. Getting his seventh save of the year was RHP Kyle Finnegan to secure the win for the Nationals. Finnegan only threw 13 pitches, 10 being strikes, to secure the win for the Nationals in the bottom of the ninth. Finnegan got Dodgers catcher Will Smith to ground out to third, Max Muncy to fly out to left fielder Eddie Rosario, and struck out Teoscar Hernández to have an uneventful bottom of the ninth and end the game.

On the other side of the ball, CJ Abrams kicked things off on the right foot and welcomed RHP Landon Knack to Major League Baseball with his fifth home run of 2024 to right center field that went 392ft and a lunch angle. On an interesting note, according to the Nationals, Abrams started today’s game with his third career lead-off home run.

Coming into today’s game, Abrams ranked 6th in slugging percentage and 8th in OPS, while his two triples this season are tied for the most in the National League (T3rd in MLB).

Outfielder Jesse Winker extended his hitting streak to six games with his hit in the top of the first inning with a sharp line drive to left fielder Teoscar Hernández.

Luis García Jr. had another good day at the plate and on the field. At the plate, García Jr. went 1-3. García Jr. also stole three bases during the game (second inning, third inning, and the sixth inning). After stealing three bases in today’s game, he had his first multi-stolen base game of his career.

Getting the other run for the Nationals also occurred early in the game thanks to a sacrifice fly to center field by Joey Meneses, scoring Jesse Winker from third. Meneses returned to the lineup after taking a few days off during this road trip. That was all the Nationals would need to beat the Dodgers and capture a series win.

Next, the Washington Nationals will head back to Washington, D.C., and have tomorrow off. Then, the Nationals will host the Houston Astros for a weekend series. During the weekend, the Nationals will celebrate their 2019 World Series win.

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