It appeared the best start of Andrew Alvarez’s career would go to waste, but a key steal set up a 6-5 victory.
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CJ Abrams stood on second base in the 10th inning of the Washington Nationals’ game against the Los Angeles Angels on Saturday, waiting for his chance.
He had already identified Angels reliever José Fermin’s patterns. Finally, three pitches into Harry Ford’s at-bat, Abrams saw his chance. He stole third, with Daylen Lile swiping second behind him.
That move won the game. A pitch later, Ford hit a grounder that shortstop Zach Neto booted, giving Abrams time to score as Washington walked it off, 6-5.
“It’s always fun to win,” Abrams said. “Harry hit the ball, I just tried to get him, and we won.”
That game shouldn’t have been as tense at it was. Andrew Alvarez allowed just one hit in seven scoreless innings, but his bullpen, as is custom, gave up a 4-0 lead. Brad Lord gave up three runs in the eighth inning, and Will Dion allowed two more in the ninth as the Nationals blew their 39th save.
At the end of the day, they got the win. But Manager Blake Butera was visibly frustrated after the game.
“I’m incredibly proud of our guys for how resilient they were today,” Butera said. “The way they were able to walk off a game, obviously it’s always good to win. … We have to find ways to protect four-run leads late in the game. That starts with me, I have to find a better way of finding ways to make sure we win those games.”
Alvarez set the team up for success with the best start of his career — and continued to set himself up to be a part of the Nationals’ rotation in 2027. He has a 3.35 ERA in 23 games, including a 2.44 ERA since returning to the rotation Aug. 3.
The left-hander still issued four walks, a consistent struggle for him, but he struck out eight and was able to prevent the Angels from causing any damage.
In the first inning, after getting Jose Siri to whiff on two curveballs, Alvarez threw four straight balls to walk him with two outs. Alvarez then struck out Vaughn Grissom, also on a curveball.
After the Nationals took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning on doubles by Abimelec Ortiz and Abrams, Alvarez again issued a walk, this time to Christian Moore. He followed that with another strikeout, then picked off Moore. But then Alvarez walked two more, putting runners on first and second with two outs. Alvarez escaped, however, by getting Tyler Heineman to ground into a force.
The Nationals added three runs in the bottom of the second inning to give Alvarez a 4-0 cushion, scoring two runs on a single from Jacob Young and another on a single by Ortiz.
Following a wake up call from pitching coach Simon Mathews, Alvarez cruised through the third, fourth and fifth innings, with the only Los Angeles base runner coming on a Brady House fielding error. After Mike Trout struck out to lead off the sixth, Siri lined a double to break up Alvarez’s no-hit bid.
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Alvarez’s day wasn’t done quite yet, though. He got the last two outs of the inning, then was trusted with the seventh despite being at 88 pitches. He took care of business, retiring the side and finishing with one more strikeout, before walking off the mound to a smattering of applause from the home crowd.
“It is huge,” Alvarez said. “Going seven, especially against my hometown team, I grew up going to their games multiple times throughout the years, watching Mike Trout, it’s very cool.”
Brad Lord took over in the eighth inning. He quickly got the first two outs, but a Trout walk, a Wade Meckler double and a Grissom homer cut Washington’s lead to 4-3.
Will Dion didn’t fare much better in the ninth. He walked Oswald Peraza, then gave up a double to Denzer Guzman to tie the game with no outs. Guzman advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on a sacrifice fly from Moisés Ballesteros as the Angels took a 5-4 lead.
José Tena walked to open the bottom of the ninth inning, stole second and advanced to third base on a throwing error from Ballesteros. Tena scored on a single by Andrés Chaparro to tie the game.
Jack Sinclair allowed traffic in the 10th but got out of it, giving the Nationals a chance to walk it off. Lile was intentionally walked with one out, then pulled off a double steal with ghost runner Abrams. Abrams and Lile pulled off the double steal, putting Abrams just 90 feet from home.
Ford then grounded it to Neto, who was drawn in but couldn’t snag the ball. Abrams scored, clinching the win for the Nationals.
“He’s such a dynamic player,” Butera said of Abrams. “To be able to do that, trusting him and giving him the green light to steal third if he saw the opportunity. When Harry came up, I think he saw that opportunity and took it. And that, like I said, was the game. He made that happen.”
Note: Clayton Beeter, who leads the team in saves, was optioned to Class AAA Rochester after Friday’s game to reset and work on reducing his walk rate.
Beeter has a 5.66 ERA since the all-star break with 13 walks and two blown saves in 20⅔ innings.
“We see him as a leverage guy, back end of the bullpen type,” Nationals Manager Blake Butera said. “We don’t want him just being up here basically treading water and throwing in non-leverage innings. So basically just a chance to get down there, get some work in, regroup.”
Richard Lovelady was activated from the 60-day injured list in a corresponding move.
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