James Wood notched his first hit of the 2026 season, but the Washington Nationals were outmatched in Saturday's 10-2 loss against the Chicago Cubs
After an encouraging opening game of the Blake Butera era, the Washington Nationals dropped their first game of the regular season after falling, 10-2, against the Chicago Cubs on Saturday.
CJ Abrams was not with the team on Saturday due to a death in the family, leading Nasim Nunez to slide to shortstop while Jorbit Vivas made his regular season debut at second base.
Four Nationals recorded one hit each, while Miles Mikolas struggled in his regular season debut with the Nationals, allowing six hits and four earned runs while tossing four strikeouts and 97 pitches in five innings, but in his defense, the defense didn't make it easier on him either.
A disaster second inning blew the game wide open after the Chicago Cubs added four runs on the board. Mikolas walked his second batter who then stole second base before tossing a second walk, then giving up an infield single to load up the bases. Matt Shaw would drive in the first run on a sac fly to center before an infield single brought in consecutive runs, but then a blunder in the outfield after Daylen Lile and Nasim Nunez collided trying to catch a pop up, leading to two more runs.
James Wood's first hit of the season came in the top of the fourth inning after his 364 foot solo home run trimmed the deficit to 4-1, but Washington was never able to get closer. The Cubs answered with their own solo home run in the bottom of the inning, push the deficit back to four.
The Nationals would then add another run in the top of the fifth after a Nasim Nunez single brought in Brady House after opening the inning with a walk, but once again, the Cubs answered right back in the bottom of the frame with an RBI double into left field, once again pushing the deficit back to four.
Ken Waldichuk then stepped in for Andre Granillo, who replaced Mikolas to start the sixth inning, but his first pitch went sailing over the wall for a three run homer, pushing the deficit to 9-2. After allowing the next two batters to get on base, Waldichuk tossed his lone walk of the day with the bases loaded to add another run for Chicago.
With the series now tied at one, the two teams will square off in the rubber match for another 2:20 PM opening pitch on Sunday.