The Washington Nationals suffered a humiliating defeat on Wednesday afternoon, but not before they did enough to take the three-game series vs. San Francisco
The series ended just about as badly as it possibly could have, but the Nationals managed to win another road series, this time winning two games to the Giants' one in San Francisco.
It was a tightly contested series, with all three games staying relatively close. Let's take a look at the keys to what was a highly entertaining series.
1) Pitching hangs tough in first two games
While the offense has been stellar throughout the season, pitching has been a thorn in Washington's side. They have gotten some surprising contributions, but the unit as a whole has been lackluster.
In the first two games in San Francisco, the Nationals gave up a combined six runs. It wasn't always pretty, but the run prevention allowed them to string together two wins.
In the first game, Washington came out with an opener. It is a strategy that has not always been fruitful, but it certainly was Monday.
Richard Lovely pitched a scoreless frame, Miles Mikolas did the same over 4.2 innings and Gus Varland shut the door in the ninth to secure the 4-3 victory.
In the second game of the series, Andrew Alvarez got the nod. He allowed ten base runners (five hits and five walks)., but he managed to escape his four innings of work with just two runs allowed.
After a mostly clean bullpen performance, the Nationals came away with a 6-3 win. While not dominant outings, Washington will surely take any low-run outings they can get, especially from back-end starters or openers/bullpen games.
2) Big series for Nats' 23-year-olds
Washington's pair of budding 23-year-old outfield stars, James Wood and Daylen Lile, both performed extremely well in San Francisco, accounting for a good deal of the team's offense.
Wood went 5-13 in the series, tacking on a home run and 3 RBI. He now sits on 18 long balls on the season, and has brought his OPS up to .941, the highest in the National League.
Lile was a similarly dominant 6-11, knocking in five runs throughout the three-game showdown and notching a triple in the second game.
Both players have performed at a high level throughout the season, and look to be the corner outfield duo of the future in the nation's capital.
3) A climactic ending
There aren't many worse ways to lose a game than a walk-off home run. The Nationals managed to find one of those ways, though, giving up a walk-off grand slam and allowing the Giants to erase a deficit of eight runs.
According to MLB, it was San Francisco's seventh grand slam in their last 23 games, a feat only one other team has accomplished in a single season.
It doesn't get much rougher than that. Washington will just have to develop a short-term memory and keep it rolling as they head home to face the Seattle Mariners.
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