Washington Nationals kick off a three game series against the Tigers with a win

Detroit, MI—Tonight, the Washington Nationals kicked off a quick three-game series against the Detroit Tigers with a win in extra innings, 5-4.

The Nationals scored five runs on  five hits. They have a record of 31-35 and are .500 18-18 away from Nationals Park this season. The Nationals are 14-16 in interleague play and are 3-6 against AL Central teams.

LHP Mitchell Parker got the start tonight for the Nationals, and he went 4.2 innings, giving up four runs on four hits and only struck out one. Parker threw 81 pitches, with 46 of them being strikes. Parker faced 22 batters.

The Nationals bullpen gave up zero runs and two hits through the combination of RHP Derek Law, RHP Dylan Floro, RHP Hunter Harvey, and RHP Kyle Finnegan.

On the offensive side of the ball, the Nationals put up five runs. The Nationals opened the scoring with a Jesse Winker RBI walk in the top of the third, followed by the Nationals putting up two additional runs in the top of the fifth.

The big play of the top of the fifth inning came from a CJ Abrams triple, his fifth of the season, easily scoring Joey Gallo from third. The next batter, Lane Thomas, hit a sacrifice fly, scoring CJ Abrams, giving the Nationals a 3-0 lead.

However, the Nationals lead didn’t last long as the Tigers put up four runs in the bottom of the fifth, giving them a 4-3 lead heading into the latter part of the game.

The Nationals added a run in the top of the eighth to tie the game at 4-4 thanks to an Ildemaro Vargas sacrifice fly-scoring Lane Thomas.

The Nationals would score one more in the top of the tenth thanks to a Lane Thomas sacrifice fly, scoring Jacob Young from third. The Nationals brought in RHP Kyle Finnegan to close out the game, and he was credited for the win. He now has a record of 2-3.

Joey Gallo exited the game in the bottom of the seventh due to an apparent hamstring injury and was replaced by Joey Meneses. [We will provide you with the latest information as it becomes available; be sure to follow us on X]

Up next, the Washington Nationals will play game two of three against the Tigers and send RHP Jake Irvin, with a record of 4-5 and an ERA of 3.12, to the mound with the hope of winning another series.

Jake Irvin has pitched to a 1.00 ERA (2 ER/18.0 IP) with a .177 opp. AVG had 20 strikeouts and five walks over his last three starts. Irvin ranks NL in BB/9.0 IP (3rd, .168) and SO/BB (7th, 4.57).

The Tigers will send RHP Reese Olson to the mound to face the Nationals. Olseon enters tomorrow’s game with a record of 1-7 with an ERA of .3.43 over 12 games and 65.2 innings pitched.

Game Details

• WP: RHP Kyle Finnegan
• LP:  LHP Andrew Chafin
• First Pitch: 6:42 PM

Injury Updates:

RHP Josiah Gray

• RHP Joisah Gray will make another rehab start this Friday with the Harrisburg Senators after throwing 43 pitches over three innings Sunday for the Single-A Fredericksburg Nationals in his rehab debut, according to Washington Nationals Manager Davey Martinez in his pre-game comments with reporters before tonight’s game.
• Gray has been making his way back from April due to a flexor strain in his elbow.

RHP Cade Cavalli

• RHP Cade Cavalli will be pitching from a bullpen mound and might even face live batters by the end of the week (Saturday), as Davey Martinez also announced in his pre-game comments with reporters. According to reports, Cavalli will throw off a bullpen mound tomorrow while he travels with the team.

• On Sunday, before the game with the Atlanta Braves, we saw Cavalli throwing on level ground in the outfield with C Drew Millas.

  

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