James Wood is on a tear and the Washington Nationals are off to their best start since 2021. The Cleveland Guardians have felt the sting first-hand in their ballpark.
Washington can complete a three-game road sweep on Wednesday when Nationals right-hander Miles Mikolas (1-3, 6.17 ERA) faces Guardians right-hander Gavin Williams (7-3, 3.25).
Wood has battered Cleveland pitching in their first two interleague contests, going 7-for-9 with two homers, three RBIs and four runs. The 23-year-old outfielder will be back atop the lineup for the afternoon finale.
“The ability he has to lay off pitches and work walks, what he can do is pretty unbelievable,” Washington manager Blake Butera said. “He’s fun to watch hit.”
Wood leads the majors with 49 runs, and he ranks first in the National League with a .413 on-base percentage and 46 walks. He is batting .369 over his past 17 games, going 24-for-65 as the Nationals have matched their season high by going two games over .500.
Washington hasn’t been above the break-even mark this late into a year since July 1, 2021, when it was 40-39 before losing 58 of its final 83 games to finish last in the NL East.
“It’s fun winning baseball games,” Butera said.
The Nationals’ rotation has been even more impressive of late, posting a 1.00 ERA in the past six contests with 39 strikeouts and seven walks in 39 innings. Mikolas tossed five scoreless innings in his latest outing, May 22 against the host Atlanta Braves.
In three career appearances against Cleveland, he is 1-1 with a 4.76 ERA.
The Guardians comfortably lead the American League Central, but their starting pitching is a mess after Tanner Bibee and Joey Cantillo combined for just five innings in the past two days, getting torched for a total of six homers and 11 runs.
Cantillo lasted two innings on Tuesday, the shortest outing of his career as a starter, in a 6-3 loss. He gave up a two-run single to Keibert Ruiz and a two-run homer to Wood, both in the second inning. Bibee tied the franchise record by serving up five home runs in a 10-2 rout on Monday.
“I didn’t do my job and that can’t happen,” said Cantillo, whose 18 walks allowed in May are the most in the majors. “Especially after (Monday), I didn’t give us a chance to win the game.”
Williams has been brilliant while winning his past two starts, striking out 18 without a walk and yielding just two runs over 14 innings. It will be his initial game against the Nationals. He is 7-7 with a 3.98 ERA in 20 interleague outings.
Known as the “Big Rig,” Williams loves the sunlight and has the sixth-best career ERA among active starters (minimum 30 starts) in the daytime. Williams’ 2.83 only trails Jacob deGrom (2.02), Drew Rasmussen (2.14), Paul Skenes (2.55), Garrett Crochet (2.73) and Tarik Skubal (2.82).
“It’s been two tough losses, but we’re right back at it (Wednesday),” Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said. “Washington’s lineup is really good and they make you work. And again, when you’re not pounding the zone, you’re not going to get them to chase.”
–Field Level Media
