The Washington Nationals missed a chance at a road sweep - and .500 - in Thursday's loss, but there was plenty of good and bad that stuck out
The Nationals season-long dominance on the road continued in a 2-1 series victory over the Reds in Cincinnati despite a blowout loss in Thursday's final game.
Though they fell 15-1 in the series finale, Washington brought their road record to 15-10 in the series, compared to just 6-13 in D.C.
With the series in the rearview mirror as they head home to face the Orioles, here are three takeaways from the mid-week clashes with Cincy.
1) Luis Garcia Jr. gets hot
Luis Garcia Jr. is not necessarily the first name you circle on the Nats' lineup card, but the 25-year-old infielder caught fire in Cincinnati.
In the series opener, Garcia went 3-5 with two solo home runs and a single. In the last two games of the series, he was a combined 2-5 with two walks, bringing his series totals to 5-10 with two home runs, two walks, and three runs batted in.
Garcia has been solid this season, sporting a .276 batting average and three home runs -- spurts like this are sure to bring those numbers up while giving his team a boost.
2) Has the Foster Griffin magic run dry?
Foster Griffin has, by all measures, had a terrific rookie season. Coming over from Japan's NPB, the 30-year-old rookie has been shockingly good, and came into the last game of the Cincinnati series with an ERA not far above 2.00.
Then Thursday happened.
Griffin got absolutely shelled in a lopsided loss, giving up nine earned runs in 4.1 innings of work. He gave up two long balls out of seven total hits, and added three walks. He did strike out seven, but that is of little consolation in an outing as bad as this one from a run-prevention perspective.
One game doesn't change the season Griffin has had, but it's worth keeping an eye on where his year goes from here.
3) James Wood is slumping ... again
When James Wood is on, he is on. Very few players in baseball are as explosive as Washington's young outfielder when he's seeing the ball well.
The problem, as it always has been, is that Wood is extremely streaky -- right now, he's on the downside of one of those streaks.
Wood went 1-11 in the Reds series, adding six strikeouts to his league-leading total (now 66). The one hit was a home run, but there's no getting away from the fact that Wood did not look great.
In all likelihood, another hot streak is right around the corner. The Nationals, though, would probably like to see a little less of the wild variance that Wood has when it comes to strikeouts and frequent ice-cold stretches.