The Washington Nationals will look for their first home series win of the season on Thursday when they host the Minnesota Twins in the finale of a three-game set.
While winning four of six road series, Washington has completed five home series thus far and lost each one. After a 15-2 victory on Wednesday, the Nationals have split the first two games against the Twins and are 5-13 at Nationals Park.
Minnesota is tied for last in the American League with six road wins. Only the Miami Marlins, with five, have fewer victories away from home.
The Nationals will look to right-hander Jake Irvin (1-4, 4.93 ERA) on Thursday while the Twins counter with right-hander Simeon Woods Richardson (0-5, 6.49).
Irvin, 29, won his first start of the season and is 0-4 with a 5.16 ERA since. After tossing 5 2/3 scoreless innings against the Chicago White Sox on April 25, he yielded four runs (three earned) in five innings against the Brewers on Friday. He allowed six hits and four walks to Milwaukee while striking out five.
Irvin is 1-1 with a 2.70 ERA in two career starts against the Twins.
The Twins have lost six of the seven starts made this season by Woods Richardson, 25. He had a 2.31 ERA after his first two outings, but it has ballooned since.
Last time out, Woods Richardson gave up six runs (four earned) in 4 2/3 innings of a loss to the Toronto Blue Jays on Friday. He allowed nine hits, two of them home runs, and walked one while fanning two.
“It’s just balls in the middle of the plate,” Twins manager Derek Shelton said. “He left the two balls in the middle of the plate for the home runs in deficit counts. We’ve got to continue to execute better.”
Woods Richardson is 0-0 with a 4.82 ERA in two games (one start) versus the Nationals.
After totaling eight runs in their previous four games, the Nationals exploded for 15 runs on 14 hits on Wednesday.
CJ Abrams had a grand slam and two doubles, and Brady House, Drew Millas and Jose Tena each had a home run and a double.
“I know the offense started off really, really hot (this season) and then cooled down a little bit, but I thought our at-bats were still pretty good,” Washington manager Blake Butera said. “So, it was good to see some balls going over the fence and finding some holes and have some success tonight.”
Abrams is batting .423 (11-for-26) with three doubles, two homers, six runs and 12 RBIs in his past seven games.
Millas hit his first major league home run since June 21, 2024.
“I think today was more of a momentum thing,” the catcher said. “You could feel it. CJ was going. Tena was going. Brady got his hit, and he also hit a nice one off a righty. So it was good to feel the momentum, and it was really contagious, to be honest.”
Minnesota, which had won two straight, was held to three hits on Wednesday. Matt Wallner had two of them, including a home run. He has four hits in his past five at-bats after an 0-for-19 slump.
–Field Level Media
