WASHINGTON – A dramatic eighth inning sacrifice fly by Luis Garcia Jr. sent Alex Call racing home with the decisive run, giving the Washington Nationals a narrow 4-3 victory against the Baltimore Orioles on Wednesday. The game began on a high note with James Wood hammering his eighth home run of the season to energize the Nationals’ early offense.
Wood wasted no time in making an impact, belting a 431-foot homer off Orioles’ starter Tomoyaki Sugano in the game’s opening at-bat. This shot not only cleared the right-center field wall but also set the tone for the Nationals’ early surge. Josh Bell continued Washington’s blitz with a two-run homer, giving them a commanding 3-0 lead in the first inning.
As the ninth inning loomed, Kyle Finnegan rose to the challenge, allowing a pair of singles before shutting the door on Baltimore with a crucial strikeout of Tyler O’Neill and a pop-out from Heston Kjerstad. This performance secured his ninth save of the season, providing relief to Washington’s fans. Jorge Lopez emerged as the winning pitcher, with Gregory Soto taking the loss.
The leadoff homer from Wood, clocked at an impressive 116.3 mph, was his second career shot of this kind, the first having been hit against Mitch Keller earlier in Pittsburgh. For Bell, the home run marked his fourth of the season and further cemented his prowess at Nationals Park, where he has now accumulated 27 such achievements.
The Orioles, temporarily silenced early on, found their stride as the game progressed, managing to score single runs in the third, seventh, and eighth innings. Jordan Westburg’s powerful triple in the eighth led to Ramon Urias leveling the score with a sacrifice fly.
Washington’s Trevor Williams navigated a tricky outing, surrendering just one run while scattering six hits across five innings. He also struck out five batters, issuing only one walk in his 99-pitch performance, 61 of which were strikes.
Key to Baltimore’s ability to keep it close was Sugano’s bounce-back, shaking off the first-inning trouble to yield just two hits over the next six frames. His ability to shut down the Nationals through seven innings was pivotal, as he issued no walks and struck out a single batter.
Highlighting a noteworthy statistic, Adley Rutschman found his form after a prolonged slump, securing singles in each of his first two plate appearances, including an RBI hit that put Baltimore on the scoreboard in the third inning.
Looking ahead, the series will conclude with the Nationals’ left-hander MacKenzie Gore, having racked up a major-league-leading 45 strikeouts, facing off against Orioles’ lefty Cade Povich, who is still seeking his first win amid a difficult season.