The Washington Nationals won by a combined 8-3 score against the Houston Astros and St. Louis Cardinals in the first two games of spring training
The Washington Nationals officially kicked off spring training on Saturday with a pair of wins in a split-squad opening day, taking down both the Houston Astros and St. Louis Cardinals in games that kicked off at 1:05 PM. Recap of how both games went on Saturday afternoon:
Nationals vs. Astros
The game against the Astros opened with a highlight for the Nationals after Andrew Pinckney threw out an Astros baserunner on a beautiful throw from right field in the opening frame, but Houston would open the scoring in the second inning after a hit to first base took Abimelec Ortiz out of position with Jake Eder not quick enough to cover the base, letting the Astros score the game's first run.
Richard Lovelady, one of the team's waiver claims in late January, replaced Eder in the second inning where he would be tasked with getting out of a bases loaded jam before consecutive strikeouts ended the inning.
The Nationals would tie the game after a walk sent CJ Abrams home in the bottom of the fifth, while Jorgelys Mota would answer with a 434 foot home run to right field in the bottom of the sixth inning, pushing Washington ahead, 2-1.
It wouldn't come without drama at the end after three straight walks by Holden Powell gave Houston the bases loaded with no outs, but he responded with a strikeout before a grounder up the middle cemented the win to open spring training.
Nationals vs. Cardinals
Harry Ford would open the game with a strikeout in his first at-bat as a National before first baseman Matt Mervis knocked through the team's first hit in either game on a single in the opening inning.
St. Louis would open the scoring with a 374-foot home run in the second inning off Shinnosuke Ogasawara before being pulled after one inning and 29 pitches in favor of Jared Simpson, but Washington would answer back in the top of the third inning after Trey Lipscomb hit Sam Petersen home to tie the game at one.
Washington would briefly take a 2-1 lead in the fourth inning after a single from Harry Ford brought Petersen home, but that wouldn't last long after the Cardinals punched in a run off a wild pitch in the bottom of the inning.
The Nationals would take the lead back in the fifth inning after Sergio Alcantara singled to bring Matt Mervis home before Maxwell Romero Jr. belted a three-run HR to push Washington ahead, 6-2.
Next: Washington will return to action on Sunday against the Miami Marlins for a 1:10 PM opening pitch.