The Washington Nationals' offense explodes on the road with a 10-4 blowout win against the Cincinnati Reds
After a day off, the Washington Nationals exploded in game one on the road against the Cincinnati Reds after a blowout 10-4 win.
Washington recorded a season-high six home runs in the win, including two home runs from both Luis Garcia Jr. and Daylen Lile. While it marked the fourth of Garcia's career, Tuesday's performance marked the first multi-home run game in Lile's career as the team finished with 13 hits in the win.
Lile and Garcia combined to finish 6-for-10 with six RBIs in the win, while CJ Abrams joined the duo as Nationals with multi-hit games after finishing 2-for-4 in the win.
The home run party would give Washington breathing room early, including a pair in consecutive at bats in the third inning. James Wood opened it with a 396 foot opposite field home run, marking his second over his last three games, before Luis Garcia Jr followed it up with a back-to-back, 385 foot shot into right field to put the Nationals ahead, 2-0.
Daylen Lile then delivered in his return home after adding a 415 foot blast into the bleachers in right field, putting Washington ahead 3-0, but Cincinnati would wake up in the bottom of the inning.
After Miles Mikolas gave up a leadoff single into right, the Reds would load the bases with no outs before a fielder's choice broke the shutout. Yet another Miles Mikolas walk would load the bases again, leading manager Blake Butera to turn to Brad Lord out of the bullpen with Mikolas lasting just 3.2 innings.
In a season filled with errors, the miscues showed up again on Tuesday night after Brady House mishandled a grounder to cut Washington's lead to 3-2. Yet the Nationals' bats would pick back up in the fifth inning.
A second home run from Luis Garcia Jr., this time a 375 foot home run, opened the fifth inning to put Washington ahead, 4-2. Brady House would then draw a six-pitch walk before a CJ Abrams single added a second base runner, but Daylen Lile would pick back up where he left off after his 429 foot home run into right field vaulted Washington ahead, 7-2.
Brady House then joined in after his two-out sixth home run of the season marked the Nationals' sixth home run of the night, pushing Washington ahead, 9-2, in the top of the eighth inning. A double from José Tena in the top of the ninth would bring in Nasim Nuñez for the Nationals' tenth run of the game.
Washington, now 14-9 in away games, will now look for consecutive wins with the teams set for another 6:40 PM first pitch on Wednesday evening.
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