The left-hander, a former protege of the departed Foster Griffin, delivered a solid performance in Washington’s 8-2 victory over Cincinnati.
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The Washington Nationals were in danger of letting another winnable game slip away at the hands of their ever-frightful bullpen. But they held on, and the offense put together quality at-bats to beat the Cincinnati Reds, 8-2, on Saturday.
With that victory at Nationals Park, Washington wins the series and is in position to wrap up a sweep Sunday. The Nationals (58-61) also continued their steady climb back toward .500, a mark they fell under after a 1-7 road trip that took them out of wild card contention and pushed them to sell at the trade deadline.
“Going on the road for eight games against two really good teams, back-to-back four-game series is not easy, and when it’s not going your way, you’re looking for some support, some positivity,” Manager Blake Butera said. “When you come back home and play in front of the crowd we had last night with the rain delay and then the crowd we had tonight, which was awesome as well, just provides that spark that we needed. It gives our guys some confidence that we can play well.”
The season isn’t over yet — and Saturday’s complete win was a reminder of the potential this young team has. Several players contributed, beginning with José Tena. He led off the third inning with a single, then CJ Abrams doubled to move Tena to third. Abimelec Ortiz’s groundball sneaked through the left side, and Tena and Abrams scored to give the Nationals a 2-0 lead.
Andrew Alvarez, meanwhile, held the Reds scoreless through the first five innings. The left-handed rookie was coming off the best start of his career, pitching a career-high 6⅓ innings while holding the Philadelphia Phillies to just two runs on three hits Monday.
His breakthrough couldn’t have come at a better time for the Nationals. With Foster Griffin — whom Alvarez credits with teaching him how to prepare and be efficient — traded and Zack Littell designated for assignment last week, the already-thin pitching depth is even slimmer. That means there’s room for Alvarez to get consistent starts and put himself in a position to earn a spot in the rotation next year, too. Jake Irvin, Cade Cavalli and Connelly Early are the only starters currently penciled in to the 2027 roster.
“It’s a bummer losing both,” Alvarez said. “It’s never easy seeing the team split apart. I’m just going to continue to go day by day and work hard. Each day, we’re just going to go out there and give it all we’ve got.”
In the sixth inning Saturday, Alvarez got Elly De La Cruz to ground out, then gave up a single to Sal Stewart, just the third hit for Cincinnati. With a narrow 2-0 lead and right-handed hitter Dane Myers due up, Butera decided to remove Alvarez for righty Max Kranick.
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Alvarez was at 73 pitches, and that’s the point where the team has noticed he loses command. Still, Butera said he was happy with how far Alvarez was able to go Saturday by limiting how many deep counts he got into. He also walked just one batter, an improvement after issuing three walks in each of his previous three starts.
“I think I did well just attacking the zone, getting a lot of early strikes was super great for me,” Alvarez said.
Kranick got Myers to pop out on a hanging slider, but Eugenio Suárez didn’t miss a hanging fastball, crushing a two-run homer to tie the game for the Reds.
This was where the game could have taken a turn for the worse for the Nationals. Instead, they responded with a four-run sixth inning.
Dylan Crews kicked it off with a double two pitches after successfully challenging a called third strike. Daylen Lile’s RBI single gave the Nationals the lead back, then Keibert Ruiz doubled and Nasim Nuñez walked to load the bases and end Reds starter Chase Burns’s day.
Pinch hitter Andrés Chaparro ripped a double to the left field line, bringing in Lile and Ruiz. Nuñez attempted to score as well but was called out at home. The Nationals added one more run off a single from Jacob Young to make it 6-2.
“It’s huge,” Butera said of the four-run response. “Obviously they grabbed the momentum back with that two-run homer to tie it there. So to be able to go out there in the bottom half of the inning, with Burns still on the mound. … Crewsy getting it started, I think really sparked the offense. Just incredible at-bats right after Crewsy to continue that inning.”
At times this season, that’s been far too small for the bullpen to hold on to. But on Saturday, Yovanny Cruz and Clayton Beeter got through the seventh and eighth innings without any issues. In the bottom of the eighth, Chaparro and Abrams added RBI singles to make it 8-2, and Max Cosgrove pitched a 1-2-3 ninth to wrap up the win.
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