CINCINNATI — Lane Thomas walked down the first base line, watching his seventh-inning blast soar into the second deck in left field at Great American Ball Park, and had to catch his breath. After all, it was his third such trot around the bases Friday night in the Washington Nationals’ 8-5 victory over the Cincinnati Reds.
Lane Thomas blasts three HRs, single-handedly ending Nats’ offensive funk
“I think, at that point, you’re thinking about, are you going to try to hit another one?” Thomas said. “And then I didn’t. But it’s all right. I tried.”
Though Thomas lined out to center in his final at-bat, he became just the seventh National to hit three homers in a game and the first since Kyle Schwarber accomplished the feat June 20 of last season against the Mets. The Nationals went deep five times in total, their bats finally breaking out to end a four-game losing streak in which they were outscored 36-6.
Nelson Cruz (solo shot in the second) and Juan Soto (solo shot in the third) also went deep for the Nationals (19-35). Soto, who entered on a 1-for-15 skid during this trip, finished 1 for 4 and is hitting .223.
The Nationals (19-35) trailed 2-0 after Josiah Gray allowed a first-inning, two-run home run to Tommy Pham. An inning later, the offense finally responded. Cruz was early on a change-up from Reds starter Mike Minor but got just enough of it to cut the Nationals’ deficit to one.
The next inning, after César Hernández’s single scored Victor Robles to tie the game, Thomas turned on a fastball that sneaked just inside the left field foul pole to give the Nationals a 4-2 lead. Soto followed him with a 400-foot line drive with an exit velocity of 110.3 mph.
Thomas primarily starts against left-handed pitchers because he hits them more effectively. But even when Minor was pulled after four innings, Thomas didn’t have any trouble against the right-handed bullpen arms for the Reds (18-33).
His fifth-inning home run was an opposite field shot off a center-cut fastball by Vladimir Gutierrez that bounced off the top of the padding in right-center and into the seats. On his third homer against Jeff Hoffman, he didn’t leave any doubt.
“Needless to say, he’ll be batting second tomorrow,” Martinez joked. “But he deserved that. I told him, ‘Hey, just take your first at-bat and just try to hit the ball hard again.’ ”
The Nationals entered Friday with just 33 home runs in 53 games; that placed them second-to-last in the majors behind only the Detroit Tigers (30).
“It was a good night for the team, too, scoring some runs,” Thomas said. “Glad it was a good night for everybody.”
Did Josiah Gray control his emotions on Friday? There was progress. He was much better than he was May 24 when he allowed seven runs in three innings against the Dodgers, the team that traded him to the Nationals. Friday’s matchup was Gray’s first time pitching against the Reds, the team that drafted him in the second round in 2018.
Gray said he struggled with command against the Dodgers because he didn’t harness his emotions. He didn’t make the same mistake against the Reds, even after the first-inning home run to Pham — one that Robles almost robbed — after Luis García made his second throwing error in as many games on the previous pitch.
Manager Dave Martinez has been asking for Gray to throw his breaking pitches more, and those pitches were extremely effective Friday. He allowed only one more hit, striking out six of nine batters on his slider. He threw his slider 40 times, four more than his fastball, and caused seven whiffs on 17 swings. On his 14 curveballs, he got five whiffs in six swings.
“I felt in control of my body, felt like my pitches were doing exactly what I needed them to do, and I just felt completely confident out there,” Gray said. “Not letting one pitch take away from a whole outing, so I felt really good and felt really confident out there.”
How did Stephen Strasburg pitch in his third rehab start? He was dominant again, allowing just one hit and one walk over six innings while striking out four for Class AAA Rochester. In his last outing with Class A Fredericksburg, Strasburg walked one batter and didn’t allow a hit over five frames.
Martinez said Strasburg will try to get to Cincinnati tomorrow and talk to him about how he feels, but Martinez called it “great news” that Strasburg made it through six innings, a benchmark the team wanted him to reach before he returned to the majors.
Who was added to the team’s roster Friday? Lucius Fox was recalled from Class AAA Rochester to fill in for utility man Dee Strange-Gordon, who was placed on paternity leave Friday morning following the birth of his second child.
Why was Josh Rogers placed on the 15-day injured list? Rogers has a left shoulder impingement, and the team called up Andrés Machado to replace him. With Rogers sidelined, the Nationals have no left-handed relievers on the roster.
This is Machado’s third stint with the Nationals. Most recently, he was called up May 28 as the team’s additional player for the doubleheader against the Colorado Rockies before being sent back down May 31 ahead of Washington’s series against the Mets.
Source: WP
