“I just felt comfortable going up there — I had seen the guy yesterday,” Wood said of Reds left-hander Justin Wilson. “Sometimes [the first pitch] is the best one you’re going to see all day. Just got to be ready for it.”
As Wood rounded the bases, his mind went blank. The teams’ proximity in the wild-card standings, though, was on his mind in the clubhouse. With five wins in their past six games, the Nationals have the same record as the Reds — 47-53.
“We’re right there with them,” Wood said. “We’re trying to make a push, too, and every game is important.”
“This is the time now where things can go two ways,” Manager Dave Martinez said. “Come out flat and you try to work your way to do something special, or you come out with a good running start. I’m glad the boys chose to get a good running start.”
To call the moment by Baseball America’s top prospect a given, though, understates the jump he is making from Class AAA. In just his first three weeks in the big leagues, Wood has had plenty that could have derailed his season.
Take that he was hitting seventh Sunday, under the guise that it might relax the ever-relaxed 21-year-old at the plate. Or that, since his first big league homer, he entered the eighth-inning at-bat 9 for his past 44 (.205). Or that, between Class AAA Rochester and Washington, Wood has shown a patient approach that benefited him in the minors but has resulted in a bunch of two-strike counts in the majors.
Martinez spoke with Wood before the game and told him to be aggressive.
“Teams come in, they’ve got a game plan. They find your weaknesses,” the manager said. “But you talk to him? He’s really smart. He understands what he wants to do. Today, it showed.”
It didn’t matter that Wood had hit into two hard outs earlier Sunday — he has done so often enough in his young career to have an automated response of “That’s baseball.” In the second inning, the first ball he put in play left his bat at 107.2 mph, and he narrowly reached for an infield single after it ricocheted off Reds starter Andrew Abbott. In the fourth, he hit the ball even harder, a 109-mph laser to left field that, with Wood’s speed, could have gone for three bases if not for a diving catch by Will Benson. And in the sixth, Wood fell victim to another highlight when center fielder Stuart Fairchild leaped against the wall to rob him again.
He sauntered back toward the dugout, expressionless. At least he was hitting the ball in the air — and swinging at the right pitches, connecting on fastballs. The first pitch Wilson threw was a high heater, delivered at 94.2 mph. Wood sent it out at 105.9 mph, 404 feet into the seats. As he walked into the dugout, he high-fived shortstop CJ Abrams, the motion knocking the “Uncle Slam” home run hat off his head.
The Nationals were only in that position because of Irvin’s excellence; he allowed two earned runs in seven innings with seven strikeouts and no walks. After allowing six earned runs in each of his past two starts before the all-star break, he was back to his old self.
“I think the break served as a nice little refresher,” Irvin said. “A reminder to stay grounded, be where your feet are and live in attack mode.”
Irvin is used to running into trouble early, so a second-inning solo homer by Noelvi Marte didn’t stress him. Neither did the pressure of trying to hold up with a depleted bullpen, nor the usual lack of run support he has received, nor a brief visit from athletic trainer Paul Lessard in the third inning after he appeared to tweak something in his right leg while fielding a groundball. He got into better counts and used his four-seamer more than usual, generating weak contact.
The Nationals struck back in the third, when a two-out double off the left field wall by Juan Yepez (1.007 OPS since arriving July 5) pushed Jacob Young to third. A few pitches later, Reds catcher Austin Wynns tried to catch Young between third and home but overthrew Marte at third base, allowing Young to score; Marte was charged with the error. Harold Ramírez, another midseason addition, singled Yepez home to give the Nationals a 2-1 lead before Irvin allowed another solo shot to Fairchild in the fifth. Wood accounted for the final three runs.
“Electric,” Irvin said of Wood’s homer. “He’s something special.”
