The two-time all-star has a hit in his first game back with Washington after battling a left oblique strain.
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It’s been just under a month since James Wood last took the field for the Washington Nationals, and even he would admit it’s felt like far longer.
The two-time all-star, who has been on the injured list since Aug. 4 with a left oblique strain, returned on Wednesday, playing right field and hitting a single in the Nationals’ 9-0 loss to the Atlanta Braves.
“I mean obviously we didn’t see it today, we didn’t score any runs, but there were definitely good vibes, good feelings knowing that Woody was back,” Manager Blake Butera said. “He’s such a tremendous player. Anytime you are missing somebody like that it hurts; it’s tough, so to have him back was really nice.”
The timing of Wood’s placement on the injured list — his first stint as a major leaguer — came as the Nationals were already coming to terms with a post-trade deadline roster that didn’t include Curtis Mead and Luis García Jr. Add two minor injuries to CJ Abrams, first a rolled ankle, then back tightness, and the team staggered to a 12-15 record while Wood was out.
“They’ve been battling,” Wood said. “It’s obviously baseball, so it’s going to be ups and downs. I feel like there’s been some good stretches and some not so good stretches, and I feel like they’ve been bouncing back pretty well.”
He was hoping, of course, to bounce back faster, but the nature of the sport makes a return from an oblique strain tricky. Hitting is all about rotation, and he had to feel comfortable enough to make quick directional changes.
There was some boredom with being on the injured list as he’s used to playing nearly every day and not having downtime. But rehab, Wood learned, was a full-time job, and the process took almost as long as his normal pregame routine.
After checking off the necessary boxes, Wood made his first rehab appearance on Sunday with Class AA Harrisburg. In a clubhouse of aspiring major leaguers, Wood, at the seasoned age of 23, was the veteran. He did his visiting big leaguer duties, handing over his credit card to pay for a postgame steak dinner.
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Wood, wanting a few more at-bats, returned on Tuesday, going 1 for 3 again with an intentional walk. “That was interesting,” he said with a laugh.
On Wednesday, he returned to Washington, hoping to make the most of the final 20 games of the season. Andrew Pinckney, who debuted when Wood was placed on the injured list, was optioned. Tom Cosgrove was designated for assignment to bring up Riley Cornelio to give them length out of the bullpen.
That was needed as the team opted to push Jackson Kent back a game after he threw a career-high 106 pitches in his last start. Brad Lord instead took the mound, pitching 3⅓ innings before a rain delay paused the game.
An hour and 22 minutes later, the game resumed with Cornelio on the mound and the bases loaded with one out. He got out of that jam and held the game scoreless until the sixth inning. Cornelio gave up a single to Ronald Acuña Jr., then, with two outs, intentionally walked Michael Harris II to get to Sean Murphy. Murphy made them pay for the decision, hitting his third home run of the season to give the Braves a 3-0 lead.
In the bottom of the sixth, Wood singled, the first hit of the game for the Nationals.
“It felt good just getting on the board, just getting back into the swing of things,” Wood said.
The Braves kept piling on, with Acuña hitting a three-run home run in the seventh inning off Max Kranick. In the eighth, Atlanta tacked on two more runs.
Yohandy Morales, who had a three-hit debut on Tuesday, singled in the eighth inning, just the second hit of the day for the Nationals. Then, with infielder José Tena on the mound in the ninth inning, the Braves tacked on one more run.
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