Josiah Gray and Ken Waldichuk both pitch three shutout innings as the Nationals' pitching staff shines in a win vs. Yankees
The Washington Nationals' pitching staff shines in a 3-0 win against the New York Yankees to improve to 7-4-3 in Spring Training. The Yankees finished the game with only three hits, all coming in different innings, as the Nationals scored in the fourth and fifth innings to give them the edge.
Former All-Star pitcher Josiah Gray made his second start of Spring Training after missing 2025 with Tommy John recovery. He pitched three innings and finished with two strikeouts, a walk and a hit.
In his first start of Spring Training against the Houston Astros, Gray allowed two hits and one earned run in 1.2 innings pitched. Gray is competing for a spot on the opening-day roster throughout Spring Training. Fangraphs predicts Gray as the Nationals' fourth starting pitcher behind Miles Mikolas, Cade Cavalli and Brad Lord.
The bullpen continued its dominance with Ken Waldichuk coming out for three innings of his own. He allowed the same stat line as Gray, with two strikeouts, a walk and a hit. He was the pitcher who recorded the win as the Nationals' batting knocked in three runs during his stint.
The Nationals failed to log one base runner in the first three innings as José Tena recorded the only hit but got out while stretching to second.
In the fourth inning, the Nationals would strike first with Dylan Crews logging his second hit of Spring Training and scoring after a Brady House sacrifice fly. Crews stole second and reached third base after Daylen Lile grounded out.
James Wood would also record his second hit of Spring Training in the fifth inning and would record two RBI’s along with it. Tena reached base on his sixth walk of Spring Training and got into scoring position after Drew Millas singled. Wood brought both home with a triple to right field.
Tena would walk once more in the sixth inning and now leads the Nationals with seven walks in Spring Training. In his eight appearances thus far, he is hitting .183 with a .500 OBP. The 24-year-old had a .243 batting average and a .315 OBP in 50 appearances for the Nationals in 2025.
Wood’s triple would be the last hit recorded by the Nationals, but it would be enough comfort for the Nationals' bullpen to finish the game comfortably.
Relief pitchers Cionel Perez and P.J. Poulin would both contribute an inning to the Nationals' shutout, neither allowing a hit. Poulin is up to four innings pitched in four games of Spring Training while maintaining a perfect ERA.
Richard Lovelady came in for the ninth and recorded his first save, finishing by allowing one hit with two strikeouts.
The Nationals are back in action Sunday, March 8, for their fifth bout with the Astros. The two teams have split their first four matchups, one win each, with two games ending in ties. Their latest meeting was on Friday, March 6, with Houston dominating in a 7-1 win. The first pitch is set for 1:05 p.m.