Very few people in the DMV woke up feeling as good as Cade Cavalli today, and honestly? Good for him. It was almost three years ago (August 26, 2022, a sweltering evening where it felt like you were drinking the air - I was there) that Cavalli made his major league debut and didn’t exactly impress, then spent the better part of the next thirty months rehabbing a shoulder issue, followed by Tommy John. Remember, Cavalli logged only eight minor league innings in all of 2024 before he was shut down under shifting explanations - to make it back to the bigs (and not due to minor league performance, either) and throw 4 1/3 scoreless with half a dozen strikeouts is an accomplishment, especially against a lineup capable of outbursts like the one on Tuesday evening. Well done, Cade!

For the first time in a week the Nats were not staring at a crooked number on the scoreboard before they had even gotten back in the dugout, and as noted by the television crew that allowed them to play a much sharper brand of baseball (it also helped that the amped Cavalli struck out four of the first six hitters he faced). A’s outfielder Tyler Soderstrom broke the scoreless tie in the sixth with a solo shot off of Konnor Pilkington, but Riley Adams answered with one of his own in the bottom half of the frame. The score stayed that way until the bottom of the ninth, which Robert Hassell III led off with a double (sidebar - Bobby Barrels has looked like a different hitter in every way since his recent recall, with twice as many extra base hits this time around in a sixth as many plate appearances). Jacob Young struck out on a foul bunt (curses, Wee Willie Keeler!) before CJ Abrams singled to left to walk off the A’s. It was a much, much-needed win for everyone.

In what a lot of people assumed would be his first full rehab game in the outfield, Dylan Crews still departed for a pinch-hitter in the eighth (Darren Baker), signaling perhaps that instead of getting a couple of full games in during the week and then getting on a plane to join the Nats in San Francisco he might instead stay in Norfolk through the weekend with the Red Wings and rejoin the Nats next week. In his three at-bats yesterday, Crews did collect two hits, and he certainly LOOKS ready. But it would appear that the team is not going to push it with this type of injury (certainly not the way they rushed Keibert Ruiz back).

📌 Major League Baseball Braces for a Fight Over a Salary Cap (Wall Street Journal)

📌 MLB is calling up its first female umpire, promoting Jen Pawol for Saturday’s Marlins-Braves game (Associated Press)

📌 Last Night in Baseball: Can Anyone Stop The Brewers? (Fox Sports)