{"id":8211,"date":"2026-07-27T23:36:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-27T23:36:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=8211"},"modified":"2026-07-27T23:36:00","modified_gmt":"2026-07-27T23:36:00","slug":"cj-abrams-stays-hot-and-nationals-stay-in-the-hunt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=8211","title":{"rendered":"CJ Abrams stays hot, and Nationals stay in the hunt"},"content":{"rendered":"

A 5-3 win over the Diamondbacks puts Washington two games behind Arizona in the wild-card race.<\/strong><\/p>

Read more After taking a flier on Curtis Mead, Nationals flip infielder for promising pitcher<\/a><\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/figure>\n\n
CJ Abrams rounds the bases after hitting his 25th homer of the year in Washington’s win over the visiting Diamondbacks. (Nick Wass\/AP)<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

When CJ Abrams is seeing the ball well, he has a sense of calm and confidence in the box. Rather than rushing or pressing, the Washington Nationals\u2019 shortstop waits patiently for the right pitch to punish.<\/p>\n

In the fourth inning against the Arizona Diamondbacks on Saturday, Abrams let a ball and a strike go by, then fouled off a sinker. On the fourth pitch, he connected on a slurve at the top of the zone, sending it to center field. The game-tying, two-run double was the first of Abrams\u2019s three hits in the Nationals\u2019 5-3 win.<\/p>\n

There were big moments for Washington. And Abrams once again delivered.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust seems like when we need him to step up, he does so,\u201d Manager Blake Butera said.<\/p>\n

With the Diamondbacks \u2014 who currently hold the third wild-card spot \u2014 in town and the trade deadline just over a week away, the Nationals haven\u2019t played with stakes this high since 2019. And Abrams, one of their leaders on and off the field, is not just playing up to the pressure. He thrives in it.<\/p>\n

After his big game Saturday, Abrams finished the week 14 for 25 with five home runs in six games. With his contributions, the Nationals were able to even the series, pushing them back to one game above .500 and two games behind the Diamondbacks in the wild-card standings.<\/p>\n

\u201cDefinitely enjoy it,\u201d Abrams said. \u201cIt\u2019s exciting. We\u2019ve done a great job coming up to this point, playing good baseball, so we look to continue to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Abrams\u2019s efforts may not have mattered, though, had it not been for another solid performance from Foster Griffin. The left-hander allowed three runs in 6\u2154 innings to raise his already sky-high trade value.<\/p>\n

In the third, Ryan Waldschmidt led off with an infield single, and Griffin hit Corbin Carroll with a sinker. They both scored on a single by Gabriel Moreno, who was thrown out trying to advance to second.<\/p>\n

The Diamondbacks didn\u2019t hold the lead for long. In the bottom of the inning, a Curtis Mead walk and an Andr\u00e9s Chaparro double put runners on second and third for Abrams. He came through with his double, though he was quickly caught stealing for the second out.<\/p>

Read more For Nationals, this Christmas in July feels more merry<\/a><\/p>\n

But the Nationals weren\u2019t finished. A triple by Daylen Lile \u2014 his fifth of the season, one better than Luis Garc\u00eda Jr. for the team lead \u2014 drove in Dylan Crews and Jacob Young to make it 4-2.<\/p>\n

Two innings later, Abrams crushed an 0-1 sinker for his 25th home run of the season, extending the lead to 5-2.<\/p>\n

\u201cCredit to our hitting coaches for helping him simplify his plan, simplify his approach to get him back to keeping things extremely simple in the box and hunting a pitch where he does damage on,\u201d Butera said.<\/p>\n

Griffin was able to hold the score for the next three innings, setting Arizona\u2019s hitters down in order. Crews chipped in with a running catch on the warning track to take away a possible extra-base hit from James McCann in the fifth. Instead of targeting the corners, a spot the Diamondbacks were hitting, Griffin moved to the middle of the zone.<\/p>\n

That worked, until the seventh. Tim Tawa doubled on Griffin\u2019s 101st pitch, and McCann drove him in on Griffin\u2019s 108th. Butera brought in right-hander Eddy Yean, and Griffin walked off the mound to a standing ovation in what could have been his last home start.<\/p>\n

Griffin, who turns 31 on Monday, said it was a weird spot to be in. He was frustrated with how his start ended, as he wanted to get the Nationals through the seventh, but he appreciated the support. He knows if the Nationals decide to sell \u2014 and even if they decide not to \u2014 he could be a player they are willing to part with.<\/p>\n

\u201cI try not to let it affect me, but I am human, right?\u201d Griffin said. \u201cSo it\u2019s just kind of my job right now to go out there and pitch games for the Nats and try to get us deep in ballgames and win games. That\u2019s all I can do. That\u2019s all my focus is right now, and whatever happens, happens.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Nationals loaded the bases in the bottom of the seventh after Abrams\u2019s leadoff single \u2014 his third hit of the day \u2014 and walks by Crews and Nasim Nu\u00f1ez. They failed to get any runs across, but it didn\u2019t matter, as Yean and Clayton Beeter combined for 2\u2153 scoreless innings.<\/p>\n

\u201cEddy was huge. I mean, to come in there in the seventh and go out there in the eighth against 1-2-3 and make easy work of it like he did, he\u2019s going to be huge for us. That was an unbelievable outing, to do it here at home, too,\u201d Butera said. \u201cIt was nice to have no drama to end the game there.\u201d<\/p>

Read more Commanders dismiss tight ends coach after DWI arrest<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A 5-3 win over the Diamondbacks puts Washington two games behind Arizona in the wild-card race.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8209,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8211","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"\nCJ Abrams stays hot, and Nationals stay in the hunt - 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=8211\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"CJ Abrams stays hot, and Nationals stay in the hunt - Moving Insider USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A 5-3 win over the Diamondbacks puts Washington two games behind Arizona in the wild-card race.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=8211\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Moving Insider USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-27T23:36:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/7a77d22c796f20878229995c4b965c09-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=8211#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8211\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03\"},\"headline\":\"CJ Abrams stays hot, and Nationals stay in the hunt\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-27T23:36:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8211\"},\"wordCount\":907,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8211#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/44e3c7aa0c9486dba3cbff6d2bd5773b-scaled.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Interesting\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8211#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8211\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8211\",\"name\":\"CJ Abrams stays hot, and Nationals stay in the hunt - 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