WASHINGTON -- First Major League hits are notable in themselves.
Dylan Crews, the Nationals’ No. 1 prospect and MLB’s No. 3, added historic flair to his.
Crews recorded his first career hit on Tuesday night by clocking a double to the left-field wall against Yankees right-hander Gerrit Cole in Washington's 4-2 win at Nationals Park.
Crews became the third player in Nationals team history (2005-present) to collect his first big league hit off a Cy Young Award winner. He joined Blake Treinen (vs. Clayton Kershaw on May 6, 2014) and Beltran Perez (vs. Tom Glavine on Sept. 25, 2006) in doing so, per the Elias Sports Bureau. Crews is the first Nats player to gather an extra-base hit against a Cy Young winner for his first Major League hit.
“Obviously, he’s a great pitcher and has a great history,” Crews said. “He’s got very good vert on his fastball, so I was trying to see a fastball down. I think he threw two off the plate and then threw a slider on a 2-0 pitch. I got a good swing off of it.”
Crews’ second-inning double flew a Statcast-estimated 370 feet to the left-field wall and had an exit velocity of 104.4 mph. The long line drive would have been a home run in nine Major League ballparks.
“It felt great,” Crews said. “[To] get that first one out of the way and kind of sit back and breathe a little bit, take it all in, it was an awesome moment.”
In the sixth inning, Crews singled on a soft grounder off a sinker from lefty reliever Tim Mayza. When catcher Jose Trevino committed a throwing error to first, Crews bolted to second -- helmet flying off his head onto the basepath.
Then with Joey Gallo batting, Crews dashed to third base for his first career stolen base. He maneuvered his arm to safely tag the bag and beat the throw from Trevino. Crews then scored his first big league run when Gallo reached first base on a fielding error by first baseman DJ LeMahieu.
“This organization definitely fits into my approach as far as aggressiveness,” Crews said. “We’re an aggressive team, we want to steal bases, turn a single into a double, whatever it is. I think it’s awesome to see how it transitions into my game.”
Crews, who debuted on Monday, was not the only rookie accomplishing firsts.
Andrés Chaparro belted his first career home run against the Yankees -- the team he signed with as an international free agent in 2015. He sent a fastball from Cole a Statcast-projected 376 feet to left field at 102.8 mph.
“As soon as I hit the ball, I knew it was gone. Luckily, Aaron Judge wasn’t close to it,” said Chaparro, whose near-homer on Monday was nabbed by Judge. “A lot of good sentiment, excitement and joy to see it go.”
José Tena followed and crushed a first-pitch fastball a Statcast-projected 405 feet to center field at 103 mph for his second career home run.
Chaparro and Tena were the second duo of Nationals players to hit back-to-back homers this season, the first since Lane Thomas and CJ Abrams against the Braves on June 6.
“That’s the whole purpose, is for us to go out and try to contribute and help the team win any way possible,” Chaparro said of the Nationals’ young players. “That’s what we’re here for, so it was very special we were able to do that.”
Veteran southpaw Patrick Corbin anchored the Nats with six scoreless innings. He allowed only two hits and two walks across 104 pitches (64 strikes), his first outing of two hits or fewer since Aug. 10, 2023, at Citizens Bank Park.
The Nationals have the opportunity to take the three-game series on Wednesday night.
“Overall, I thought today was awesome,” Crews said. “And we won, so it was a great day.”