Outfielder keys win over Marlins; CJ Abrams’s move is short-lived; Josiah Gray’s return will be in the bullpen.
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On Monday afternoon, Daylen Lile was named National League player of the week after going 11 for 24 with three home runs last week. A few hours later, in the Washington Nationals’ 6-3 win over the Miami Marlins, Lile went deep twice more to make an early bid for a repeat.
It was Lile’s fourth multihomer game of the season and puts him at 20 long balls, the fourth National to reach that mark this season. The last time that many Washington hitters had 20 homers was 2019.
Lile’s efforts were especially needed on a night when the Nationals, down a starter, had to cobble together a pitching effort. Outside of the fourth inning, the bullpen got the job done.
Will Dion opened the game with three scoreless innings. Luis Perales, making just his second major league appearance, took the mound for the fourth. He once again showed off his four-seam fastball that can top 100 mph, but once again he couldn’t command it. He gave up four hits and a walk as the Marlins took a 3-0 lead.
In the bottom of the fourth inning, Jorbit Vivas hit a popup into foul territory and remained in the box instead of running to first. He was removed from the game for not playing hard, Manager Blake Butera said, with José Tena replacing him at second base. Vivas was apologetic and said it will never happen again.
“At the end of the day, that’s not our standard, and he understands,” Butera said.
In the fifth inning, following an Andrew Pinckney single, Lile got the Nationals on the board, sending a slider into the visitors’ bullpen in left-center. It was his first opposite-field homer of the season.
“I feel like it’s there when it needs to be,” Lile said about his opposite-field power. “On something like that, I was just trying to shoot it the other way, just hit it hard. It had a little lift on it. With the air tonight, I didn’t think it was going to go out. When I saw it go out, I thought it was pretty cool.”
Two innings later, Nasim Nuñez legged out a first-pitch bunt single, stole second and advanced to third on a wild pitch. Lile then turned on an inside fastball and crushed it off the second deck in right field to give the Nationals a 4-3 lead.
“It felt really good,” Lile said. “Just to come through for the team because I know there were a lot of opportunities early on in the season where I didn’t capitalize.”
Washington wasn’t done. After Abimelec Ortiz walked, Andrés Chaparro grounded a single to right fielder Esteury Ruiz, whose throw sailed well beyond third base. Ortiz was able to score, with Chaparro landing safely at second. He came around later in the inning on an RBI single from Brady House.
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Matt Waldron took the Nationals through the seventh inning, but he loaded the bases with no outs in the eighth. Erik Tolman took over, striking out Kyle Stowers and getting Leo Jiménez to ground into a double play to end the threat. Butera stuck with Tolman for the ninth, and the rookie rewarded his manager’s faith by striking out the side to earn his first save.
“I’m still jittery right now,” Tolman said. “I don’t think I’ll ever get used to this feeling. I don’t think anybody would. I just want to keep going.”
On Sunday, CJ Abrams made his first start at second base, a move that Washington had announced more than two weeks earlier. The plan was to make that his primary position, giving him time to learn it down the stretch this season. He’d still get about one start a week at shortstop, but just as a replacement to give Nasim Nuñez a day off.
But just a day later, Abrams was back in the lineup at his native position. While he was eventually scratched with back tightness and didn’t play Monday, the decision to give him another chance at shortstop will still stand moving forward.
The Nationals have changed their mind. Instead of moving the two-time all-star to a new position, it’s going to be a 50-50 split between shortstop and second base.
Since being informed at the start of August that he would be moving, Abrams has played “a pretty lights-out shortstop,” Butera said.
“I told him, ‘At the end of the day, I believe players can get better, and I believe you’re not a finished product,’” Butera said. “‘If you really want to get that much better at short and start playing like the way you have lately, I’m absolutely open-minded to keeping that open.’”
Josiah Gray is hopeful he can make a major league appearance before the season is over. If he does, it will come out of the bullpen, unlike his first 72 appearances with Washington.
Gray has not pitched in a major league game since 2024 after undergoing elbow surgery midway through that season. He pitched most of spring training this year before forearm inflammation shut him down again.
He has made five appearances in the minors during his rehab assignment, allowing five runs (four earned) in 6⅓ innings.
“I feel great,” he said. “It’s everyone’s goal, my goal included, to finish the year up here healthy and look forward to next year when that time comes.”
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