CJ Abrams’ three home runs and seven hits help the Washington Nationals (52-51) win two of three on the road against the Colorado Rockies. 

The Nationals finish the road stretch 4-2, after needing a good start to the second half of the series against the Oakland Athletics and Rockies. 

They now have a road record of 32-20, which is the second-best in the MLB. 

The Nationals won 7-3 on Monday after a three-home-run performance. Andrés Chaparro hit a three-run first-inning home run. Jacob Young hit a go-ahead solo shot in the sixth inning, and Abrams added a two-run home run in the seventh inning. 

The Nationals are now leading the MLB in home runs as well as total runs, as offense continues to be a force to be reckoned with in Blake Butera’s first season. 

Andrew Alvarez allowed three earned runs on six hits and three walks in 4.1 innings in the start, but a scoreless game from the bullpen helped the Nationals close the game.

They lost 8-7 on Tuesday despite two home runs from Abrams. Carson Palmquist opened the game for Miles Mikolas and allowed four earned runs in 1.2 innings. Mikolas allowed three earned runs in his 3.2 innings pitched.

Clayton Beeter allowed an eighth-inning go-ahead run to Hunter Goodman that would sink the Nationals after a high-scoring game. James Wood and Abrams combined for six RBIs. 

The Nationals recorded their first shutout on Wednesday since May 23, when they won 2-0 against the Braves.  

Cade Cavalli pitched six scoreless innings in one of his strongest outings of the season. Eddy Yean made his second appearance of the season, in which he recorded his second scoreless two-inning outing. Max Kranick made his second appearance of the season and went scoreless in the ninth to close the shutout. 

Abrams continued his brilliance offensively, going 4-of-5 from the plate. Luis García Jr. hit his 21st home run of the season, and the team totaled 14 hits in their 8-0 win.

Nationals have one of the hottest offenses in the MLB. The Nationals have been one of the top offenses in the MLB throughout the entire season, but they have taken it to another level during this road stretch. 

Wood, Abrams, Garcia and Mead continue to be the leading forces, but they’ve found real contributions from players like Nasim Nuñez, Jorbit Vivas and Chaparro recently.

Nuñez went 5-of-12 from the plate against the Rockies and has been quietly putting together a good July. He is batting .329/.404/.419 with an .823 OPS through the first 23 days of the month. He is up to a .253 batting average on the season. While the lack of power will always be a problem, Nuñez's staying on base has proven very valuable to the offense.

Chaparro went 5-of-12 from the plate with three home runs and 11 RBIs during the road stretch. He was 3-for-18 with no extra-base hits in his previous 10 appearances. 

With the Nationals' offense coming together to start the second half of the season, they have taken a 24-run lead as the highest-scoring team in the MLB.

CJ Abrams may become untouchable for the Nationals. There are very few better baseball players who can get as hot as Abrams can. 

Abrams started the season as good as anyone but fell back down to earth after a disappointing June, where he batted just .227. He has completely turned it back around, getting seven hits and three home runs in the series against the Rockies. 

He finished the road stretch with 11 hits, four home runs and nine RBIs. His OPS on the season has risen to above .900 for the first time since June 24, and he now leads all qualified Nationals batters with a .286 batting average. 

From Sunday to Tuesday, Abrams had four home runs in just three games. 

With the trade deadline approaching, Abrams has been a player frequently mocked in blockbuster deals, but this stretch will make the Nationals think twice about letting the young talent go.  

Cade Cavalli is starting to put it all together. Cavalli has always thrown well but has struggled to put it together and grind out quality starts. But he has now recorded three straight quality starts and has five in his last six starts. 

Cavalli’s six-inning shutout in Wednesday’s win against the Rockies was just the second time this season that he has allowed no earned runs. The other start came against the Boston Red Sox when he allowed just one hit in seven innings.

The starting rotation has needed another pitcher to look consistent besides Foster Griffin, and it looks like Cavalli is finally stacking good starts. 

The starting rotation has too many glaring problems. Outside of Cavalli and Griffin, it continues to look grim for the starting rotation. Alvarez has done enough at times to help the team win, but he’s only pitched over 4.2 innings in a game once this season, and he allowed five earned runs when he did. 

Mikolas and Littell continue to stack bad starts, which puts the already shaky bullpen in tough positions. The two losses of the road stretch have come with Mikolas and Littell on the mound. 

Littell allowed eight earned runs against the Athletics on Saturday, and Mikolas allowed three earned runs in 3.2 innings in Tuesday’s loss to the Rockies. 

With Jake Irvin getting ready to return to the starting lineup sooner rather than later, the Nationals should seriously consider moving either Mikolas or Littell to the bullpen and keeping Alvarez in a starting spot over them.

Eddy Yean needs to stay in the Majors. Another positive for the Nationals in their shutout win was seeing Yean make another appearance in the Major Leagues. 

The Nationals signed Yean as an international amateur in 2017 and traded him as part of the Josh Bell trade with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2020. Just this year, Yean was brought back on a minor league contract.

Yean has a 3.35 ERA in 42 games for the Triple-A Rochester Red Wings this season and has made nine saves. When given the chance in the Majors, he has pitched four scoreless innings, allowing just one hit and two walks while striking out four.

The Nationals bullpen has been a disaster through the 2026 season, and the 25-year-old Eddy Yean has shown enough potential to stay in the Majors and try to help this struggling bullpen.

The Nationals will now return home for a series against the Arizona Diamondbacks starting Friday, July 24 at 6:45 p.m. EST.

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