{"id":4187,"date":"2026-06-18T08:35:02","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T08:35:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=4187"},"modified":"2026-06-18T08:35:02","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T08:35:02","slug":"nasim-nunez-keeps-on-swimming-and-the-nationals-keep-on-winning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=4187","title":{"rendered":"Nasim Nu\u00f1ez keeps on swimming, and the Nationals keep on winning"},"content":{"rendered":"

The infielder had what he called the best game of his MLB career, contributing in every facet of a 6-4 win over the Royals.<\/strong><\/p>

Read more Visa costs kept her from seeing her son\u2019s star World Cup moment. Now she\u2019s going.<\/a><\/p>\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n
The two triples Nasim Nu\u00f1ez hit against the Royals were only part of the story. (John McDonnell\/AP)<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

There\u2019s a quote Washington Nationals infielder Nasim Nu\u00f1ez likes when times are hard, and there have been plenty of such times this season. Before Tuesday\u2019s 6-4 win over the Kansas City Royals, he was hitting just .209, and his OPS was a lowly .529, the lowest in the majors.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the top of the mountain is the bottom of the next one,\u201d he said after the game at Nationals Park. \u201cSo you have to keep climbing, don\u2019t get caught up in the highs and lows.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then he broke out in a song. \u201cJust keep swimming, just keep swimming,\u201d he sang, nodding his head along to the tune. \u201cWho sang that? Dory?\u201d<\/p>\n

A resounding yes from the media gathered around him assured him he was right. A 2-for-2 day with two triples, two walks, an RBI and three runs scored \u2014 with contributions on the basepaths and in the field \u2014 deserves a little theme song. Especially when it comes after the Nationals (39-35) earned their fourth straight win and secured their ninth series victory in their past 11.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat a game, all the way around,\u201d Manager Blake Butera said. \u201cEverything he did tonight, he was unbelievable. We\u2019re so fired up for Naz.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nu\u00f1ez did so many things well Tuesday that Butera couldn\u2019t pick his favorite. He impacted the game in every facet. Nu\u00f1ez had been waiting for a game like this. The second baseman called it his best big league performance.<\/p>\n

\u201cI haven\u2019t been playing my best baseball,\u201d he said. \u201cThings haven\u2019t been going my way. Talking to my friends, family, teammates, it\u2019s just keep showing up and give myself the opportunity to play like this.\u201d<\/p>\n

His first major contribution of the day came in the second inning, when he laid out to snag Tyler Tolbert\u2018s line drive into shallow right. Starter Foster Griffin waited for Nu\u00f1ez on the field so he could thank his second baseman for getting him out of the inning.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust got to show him some love,\u201d Griffin said. \u201cJust got to let him know I appreciate it so he keeps doing it.\u201d<\/p>

Read more Nationals\u2019 offense sputters with Royals series sweep in sight<\/a><\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/figure>\n\n
Nu\u00f1ez’s diving catch in the second inning earned him some gratitude from his starting pitcher. (John McDonnell\/AP)<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

In the third inning, after Drew Millas singled, Nu\u00f1ez hit his first triple of the night, going from home to third in 11.11 seconds. It was the fastest triple by a National since Trea Turner\u2019s during his 2021 cycle<\/a>. Millas scored to get Washington on the board, and Wood then hit a sacrifice fly to make it 2-0.<\/p>\n

Griffin gave up his only run in the fifth inning on an RBI single from Bobby Witt Jr. He mixed his pitches well, just as he has all season, striking out six Royals and lowering his ERA to 3.32.<\/p>\n

In the bottom of the fifth inning, Nu\u00f1ez hit his second triple, the ball landing just shy of the center field fence. He thought it was his first home run of the season, and he lost the ball in the lights, so even he wasn\u2019t sure at first where it was going to land. He ended up on third base, then scored on a single from Wood.<\/p>\n

In the seventh inning, with Griffin out of the game, Orlando Ribalta walked Lane Thomas and gave up a single to Witt. Butera turned to Richard Lovelady to get the Nationals out of the jam, but he let in both runs on an RBI single from Isaac Collins to tie the game at 3. Lovelady has allowed eight of 17 inherited runners to score this season.<\/p>\n

But Washington, again aided by Nu\u00f1ez, had no trouble reclaiming the lead. He walked to lead off the seventh, then made it safely to second on a grounder from Wood. It looked like a double play ball, but Nu\u00f1ez beat Witt\u2019s throw to second, although Wood was retired on the relay.<\/p>\n

Instead of the bases empty and two outs, the Nationals had a runner in scoring position, and they ramped up the pressure. Nu\u00f1ez stole third, his National League-leading 26th steal of the season, and Andr\u00e9s Chaparro, pinch-hitting for Garc\u00eda, walked to put runners on the corners. That set up Curtis Mead, who swatted a towering home run to center field to give the Nationals a 6-3 lead.<\/p>\n

Things got a little shaky in the ninth. Gus Varland gave up a home run to Thomas, then walked Witt to bring the tying run to the plate.<\/p>\n

But Nu\u00f1ez, once again, had the Nationals covered. He snagged a 108-mph grounder from Jac Caglianone on the run, tossing it to CJ Abrams, who then fired to Mead for the double play. That shift gave Varland the momentum he needed, and he ended the game by striking out Collins.<\/p>

Read more Jayden Daniels says he has \u2018a long way to go\u2019 with Commanders\u2019 new offense<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The infielder had what he called the best game of his MLB career, contributing in every facet of a 6-4 win over the Royals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4184,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4187","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"\nNasim Nu\u00f1ez keeps on swimming, and the Nationals keep on winning - Moving Insider USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=4187\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Nasim Nu\u00f1ez keeps on swimming, and the Nationals keep on winning - Moving Insider USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The infielder had what he called the best game of his MLB career, contributing in every facet of a 6-4 win over the Royals.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=4187\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Moving Insider USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-18T08:35:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/a7f99f21273a923e024736a9415012c8-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1707\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=4187#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=4187\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03\"},\"headline\":\"Nasim Nu\u00f1ez keeps on swimming, and the Nationals keep on winning\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-18T08:35:02+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=4187\"},\"wordCount\":908,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=4187#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/812ea71dd02ca880fa00a1882197537e-scaled.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Interesting\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=4187#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=4187\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=4187\",\"name\":\"Nasim Nu\u00f1ez keeps on swimming, and the Nationals keep on winning - Moving Insider USA\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=4187#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=4187#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/812ea71dd02ca880fa00a1882197537e-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-18T08:35:02+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=4187#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=4187\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=4187#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/812ea71dd02ca880fa00a1882197537e-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/812ea71dd02ca880fa00a1882197537e-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1707,\"caption\":\"Washington Nationals' Nasim Nu\u00f1ez runs to third base for his second triple of the evening during the fifth inning of a baseball game against the Kansas City Royals, Tuesday, June 16, 2026, in Washington. 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