James Wood Beats The Rockies As Washington Nationals Stop Skid

Nats narrowly avoid 12th straight loss thanks to James Wood late game heroics

It was looking like an all too familiar ending for the Nats as they trailed 3-2 entering the bottom of the 11th inning. That was, however, until James Wood had perhaps his biggest hit as a Nat yet, a 2-run blast to give the Nationals the 4-3 victory and avoid tying the franchise record in consecutive losses.

The Nats jumped out to a lead early as James Wood delivered a 2-run bomb to the red porch seats off Rockies starter Chase Dollander, who finished the day with a line of 6 innings pitched and 2 runs allowed.

The Rockies would counter in the top half of the 5th with 2 runs of their own, one off a Jordan Beck double and one from a Mickey Moniak single. That sinking feeling we have all become so used to returned.

Trevor Williams day would come to an end in the 6th after a Ryan McMahon single and Brenton Doyle double made it second and third with one out. His final line was 5 ¹⁄₃ innings pitched and 2 runs allowed, his second straight respectable start which kept the club in the game. Cole Henry would then come in and slam the door on a potential Rockies rally as he struck out Sam Hilliard and Orlando Arcia. It was a good bounce back by Henry after a rough outing the other day.

Both offenses would go silent until the 11th, where Michael Toglia broke the tie with an RBI single off Ryan Loutos. Rockies closer Seth Halvorsen entered in the 11th looking to complete the sweep for the Rockies, and after a Jacob Young bunt which moved the tying runner to third and an incredible diving play by Rockies first baseman Michael Toglia to get the out and keep the runner on third, it was up to James Wood to deliver.

And deliver he did. In a 1-0 count, Halvorsen left a splitter hanging over the plate, and Wood didn’t miss it, launching it to deep center and onto the batters eye. The choice to pitch to Wood will be questioned by many, and very fairly so, but thankfully the Rockies did and saved the Nats from perhaps the most embarrassing sweep in franchise history.

This win was so critical for the club, as they now head out to LA with some kind of momentum to take on the 46-29 Dodgers in a 3 game set. From there, it’ll be San Diego and Anaheim for them before they come home July 1st to take on the Detroit Tigers. They’re gonna need the rest of the lineup to get going soon, as James Wood scoring all your runs is a fun but not very sustainable strategy.