The Washington Nationals will attempt to win their sixth straight road series when they face the Tampa Bay Rays on Sunday afternoon in St. Petersburg, Fla.
One reason for the Nationals’ success, from first-year manager Blake Butera’s perspective, is improved defense.
In Saturday’s 4-3 victory to square the series, the Washington outfield made a pair of outstanding plays — a sliding one by Dylan Crews, and one of the crashing variety by Jacob Young — to keep the Rays from adding to their major-league-best home mark (now 25-10).
“We’ve put in a ton of work on the defense,” said Butera, whose club also quelled a first-inning threat with a double play. “I’m happy to see some of the success they’re having defensively and helping our pitchers. It’s our job on defense to make plays, and we want our pitchers to throw strikes and attack hitters.
“If we want them doing that, we’ve got to play really good defense. … Lately (the defense) has been doing a really nice job.”
Butera said center fielder Young is day-to-day after exiting Saturday’s game in the eighth inning. He crashed into the outfield wall while catching a fly ball from Tampa Bay’s Victor Mesa Jr.
Young stayed on the ground for a few minutes and was attended to by Washington trainers before walking off and holding his side.
Rays manager Kevin Cash saw some recognizable faces in the other dugout when his team’s season-high 10-game homestand opened on Friday, starting with the National League East team’s new manager.
Butera, now 33, was a 35th-round draft pick in 2015 by the Rays and eventually skippered in the club’s farm system.
Nationals bench coach Michael Johns spent almost two decades coaching in the Tampa Bay system, managing all the way up to the Triple-A Durham Bulls.
Australian-born infielder Curtis Mead played parts of three seasons for the Rays before being dealt to the Chicago White Sox at the trade deadline last year. He was traded to the Nationals on March 28.
“Lots of respect for them over there,” Cash said as the series started. “Lot of buddies over there, and lot of people over there who left an imprint on the Rays’ organization in different departments. Happy to see their success.”
Butera had to get accustomed to being a visitor at Tropicana Field.
“Definitely a weird feeling walking in and coming through the different side of the park,” Butera said. “Excited to be back, excited to see a lot of familiar faces that have meant a great deal to me.”
Jonny DeLuca returned to the Rays’ lineup on Friday, batted third and homered in a 5-2 win. The right fielder also made a leaping grab of a deep drive to the track by Washington slugger James Wood and stole a base Saturday late as a pinch runner.
DeLuca is batting .268 with three homers, 20 RBIs and seven stolen bases in 43 games this season. He injured his right hamstring while beating out an infield single in the seventh inning on May 22 against the New York Yankees — his ailment coinciding with the club’s nearly monthlong skid.
Left-hander Andrew Alvarez (1-0, 3.49 ERA) will make his fourth consecutive start for the Nats after appearing in relief in his first five outings of 2026. He will face the Rays for the first time in his career.
Right-hander Nick Martinez (6-2, 2.60 ERA) will take the ball for the Rays and will look to rebound from a ragged start to June.
The Opening Day starter is 1-1 with a bloated 6.61 ERA in three starts this month. However, he is 0-0 with a 2.89 ERA and one save in two starts and seven relief appearances against Washington in his career.
Tampa Bay has lost six of its past eight games, and Washington has won five of seven.
–Field Level Media
