After a couple tough losses in Miami, the Nats responded in a big way tonight. They overpowered the Reds in a 10-2 win where they homered 6 times. Luis Garcia Jr. and Daylen Lile both had multi-homer games in the blow out. The bullpen also did great work tonight, eating 5.2 innings in this one.
The Nats still made plenty of defensive mistakes, including 2 errors and a catcher’s interference. However, the offense was too good for that to matter. After not scoring in the first two innings, the Nats put a world of hurt on the Reds pitching staff.
James Wood started the scoring in the third with a homer. It was a classic James Wood home run, sailing majestically to the opposite field. Luis Garcia Jr. made it back to back jacks with a pull side bomb of his own. Garcia is red hot right now, and he is starting to hit for power. He only had one home run on the season entering this game, but he hit two tonight.
In the top of the 4th, Daylen Lile homered to make it a 3-0 game. However, Miles Mikolas would get into a sketchy situation in the 4th. He was on the ropes after allowing two singles and a walk to start the inning. With the bases loaded, Mikolas traded a run for an out on a ground ball. However, after walking another batter, his night was over after just 3.1 innings.
Brad Lord would come in to replace him, and the long reliever performed very well. His evening got off to a rough start, but it was not his fault. Lord got a much needed ground ball, but Brady House booted it. House has had a really rough season defensively at the hot corner. Heading into the year, his defense was seen as a strength, but it has been anything but that to start 2026. However, Lord would rebound quickly and get a double play ball to end the inning.
After that mess, the Nats knew they needed more runs. Luis Garcia Jr. would start the inning with his second homer of the night. A couple more batters would reach, and then Daylen Lile would come to the plate with 2 on and 1 out. Lile is from Louisville, which is right nearby, so his family was in attendance.
The Lile family saw their boy have his first career multi-homer game. Lile absolutely torched a 98 MPH sinker out of Great American Ball Park. It was a no doubt shot and his family went absolutely crazy in the stands. This was an amazing moment for the Lile family, and it also made the lead 7-2.
With the lead in a comfortable spot, Brad Lord went into cruise control. The right-hander gave the Nats 2.2 innings of scoreless baseball. Lord is such a valuable piece to this bullpen, and sometimes I think he may even be under-utilized.
The Nats were not done with their home run parade though. In the late innings, Brady House made up for his error and put a cherry on top of a blow out win. While he has a tough time hitting fastballs, House does not miss hanging breaking balls. Tony Santillan hung a breaking ball and House banged it out of the ball park.
This was one of the Nats bigger wins of the season. The offense, which is second in baseball in runs, flexed their muscles tonight. While Wood and Abrams both had good games, it was contributors from down the lineup that provided the biggest blows. Luis Garcia Jr. and Daylen Lile are starting to really heat up, and that makes the Nats lineup very dangerous.
If the Nats can get big time production from Lile and Garcia, this could be a truly deep lineup. It has been crazy to see what this offense has been able to do this year. We are deep enough into the season to say that this offense is no fluke. They are a fun and frisky unit. The pitching and defense needs work, but the Nats are really starting to build a foundation here.