Outfielder goes deep for a second straight game, but that’s the only offense for Washington in a 3-1 home loss.
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About this time last year, Washington Nationals outfielder Daylen Lile started taking fewer pregame reps. He was just a few months into his rookie season, and he learned from teammates James Wood and CJ Abrams that sometimes less is more. He hit .391 with a 1.212 OPS, earning National League player of the month honors to wrap up his first major league season.
Earlier this season, Lile drifted away from that pregame approach. Now, he’s going back to what worked for him a year ago. And in doing so, he’s getting that feeling at the plate again.
He and the Nationals wish, of course, that it came earlier, when the team was playing above .500 and still dreaming of an October run. But it’s better late than never, and his confidence, he said, has never been higher. He’s 9 for 20 in his past four games.
On Tuesday, he hit a home run for the second night in a row. The rest of the offense, though, couldn’t get anything going as the Nationals fell, 3-1, to the Colorado Rockies at Nationals Park, going 0 for 6 with runners in scoring position.
“It’s hard for me to do less,” Lile said. “Because I love hitting. It’s late in the season, so I’m just trying to do the things that are going to benefit me before I go out there.”
Lile had two of the five Nationals’ hits, homering in the fourth inning and adding a single in the sixth. He was the only player to score off Mason Adams, who was making his MLB debut for the Rockies, and one of two to get a hit off Colorado’s bullpen, which entering Tuesday’s game had a 4.88 ERA, the fourth highest in the majors.
Lile’s production is a sign of optimism for the future. And with Wood sidelined with a left oblique strain and Dylan Crews hitting just .213, any additional offense they can get from the outfield will help.
Lile is hard on himself and until recently wasn’t handling failure well, Manager Blake Butera said. Lile was letting bad outcomes linger, but now Butera says Lile has flipped his mindset.
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“He’s back to playing with a chip on his shoulder and going about his business the right way,” Butera said. “When he gets out, it’s more of a like ‘I’m going to fix this next time up,’ and not like ‘Here we go again.’”
Outside of Lile, the Nationals’ pitching staff did its job. Andrew Alvarez allowed three runs in 4⅔ innings. The Rockies scored two runs in the fourth as Hunter Goodman hit a solo home run and Connor Norby drove in a run with a double.
They added one more in the fifth inning. Cole Carrigg struck out on a wild pitch that rolled to the wall behind home plate. Jake McCarthy, who was on second base, rolled around third, then brushed into Brady House, who was standing outside the dirt, on his way to home plate. Alvarez tagged him, but House was called for obstruction, and the run counted to give the Rockies a 3-1 lead.
Brad Lord pitched 2⅓ scoreless innings, with Max Kranick and Jake Bird following with scoreless innings of their own.
Notes: The Nationals designated Trevor Williams for assignment, clearing space for Matt Waldron, who was claimed on waivers from the Toronto Blue Jays. Waldron, 29, has a career ERA of 5.29. He closely resembles a knuckleballer, but the right-handed pitcher wouldn’t go as far as saying he’s part of that shrinking club.
Williams signed with the team before the 2023 season and made 60 starts over the next three seasons. He had elbow surgery midway through the 2025 season and returned July 29, pitching to a 2.65 ERA out of the bullpen.
Williams is the third pitcher to be designated for assignment this month, joining Zack Littell and Miles Mikolas.
“It was not an easy decision,” Butera said. “At the end of the day, I have to trust that the front office is making the decisions that are the best thing for the team now and also long-term when we look towards what this is going to look like next year, two years from now, three years from now.”
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