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🔥 QUICK RECAP
Nationals win vs. Pirates 8-7
📍 PNC Park, April 16, 2026
⭐ Player of the Game: James Wood
⚡ Turning Point: James Wood’s 10th-inning RBI single was the difference in the Nationals’ victory
📊 Record: 9-10, W1
(Pittsburgh, PA) The Washington Nationals took down the Pittsburgh Pirates in extra innings in a back-and-forth affair on Thursday afternoon.
“[High scoring] games are so much fun for both sides,” Nationals manager Blake Butera said. “It gives our guys experience playing in tight games, which we’ve done [a lot] so far early in the season.”
The Nationals’ explosive four-run fifth inning put the team in front early, but the Pirates chased starting pitcher Foster Griffin from the game in the bottom half of the inning with a four-run frame of their own.
In the sixth, the Nationals once again took the lead on an RBI double by Joey Weimer, though the Pirates took a 6-5 lead in the home half of the inning when Pirates shortstop Konnor Griffin and third baseman Nick Gonzlaez each recorded RBI hits. The Nationals answered again in the seventh after Pirates pitcher Yohan Ramirez hit a man with the bases loaded and allowed another to score on a wild pitch. Nationals reliever Clayton Beeter blew his second save of the season in the ninth, sending the game to extra innings in a 7-7 deadlock.
James Wood came up big for the Nationals with two outs in the top of the 10th, singling in the automatic runner on second base to give the Nationals an 8-7 lead before Orlando Ribalta recorded his first career save.
“I just tried to be patient,” Wood said. “I knew I was going to have to work to get something to hit, and I just took pitches and was able to get one.”
CJ Abrams continues hot streak
Nationals shortstop CJ Abrams didn’t add to his team-leading RBI total on Thursday, but he did reach base safely for the 12th time in his last 15 plate appearances.
Abrams leads all MLB shortstops in fWAR this season, despite posting -2 outs above average this season, the statistic FanGraphs uses for the defensive component of its WAR formula.
Abrams is no stranger to early-season hot streaks. Last season, across March and April, Abrams hit .282 with an impressive .549 slugging percentage. In 2024, Abrams was even better in the first month and a half, hitting .295 while slugging .619. However, Abrams has yet to keep that momentum going for an entire season — those marks in both seasons far exceed any he’s held for a full season.
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Griffin looks dominant, but falls apart late
Griffin cruised through the Pirates’ order for the first four innings, striking out five without allowing a run. However, Griffin made a costly mistake in the fifth, letting a cutter drift over the center of the plate against Pirates designated hitter Marcell Ozuna. Ozuna made him pay, blasting a monster 423-foot home run to left field.
“[Griffin] did what he’s done for us this year … mixing speed, throwing strikes, getting ahead of hitters and keeping them off balance,” Nationals manager Butera said. “I think in that fifth inning, he just started running out of gas a little bit.”
Griffin has been excellent for the Nats so far in 2026, holding a 3.06 earned run average with a 2-0 record across his three starts. However, when he has gotten into trouble, it has been due to the long ball — four of the five runs he has surrendered this year have been because of home runs.
Butera continues to make smart managerial decisions
It’s no secret that the Nationals’ catchers haven’t been performing as well as some of the team’s other hitters this season, but Butera has employed a unique strategy to avoid a major drop-off in production from that spot in the lineup.
Butera has pinch-hit for a catcher in seven of the team’s last 11 games, according to Mark Zuckerman. The strategy has been highly effective, with those pinch hitters going 4 for 7 with three doubles and four RBIs.
In Thursday’s win, the strategy worked again when Weimer entered the game to pinch-hit for Nationals catcher Drew Millas. Weimer eventually hit a go-ahead double before being removed from the game in favor of the Nationals’ other catcher, Keibert Ruiz.
The Nationals will return home this weekend for a seven-game home stand, beginning with a game against the San Francisco Giants tomorrow at 6:45 p.m. ET.
“[This team] just continues to ring the bell and step up to the occasion," Butera said. "When you have a team full of guys that don't like to lose and love to compete ... that's something that bodes pretty well for us.”