WEST SACRAMENTO -- Many players don’t know (or, at least, claim not to know) when they’re on the precipice of a statistical milestone.
Asked if he was perhaps unaware that his 21st home run of 2026 constituted a new career high, Abrams delivered a simple but confident response.
“No,” Abrams said. “I knew.”
And why shouldn’t he? When you reach your career high in homers in mid-July -- with 62 regular-season games still yet to play -- it’s worth talking about.
“Huge congrats to CJ,” Nationals manager Blake Butera said. “Couldn’t be more proud of him. A big home run for us, a big home run for him as well, breaking his career high this early in the season.”
Abrams’ Statcast-projected 105 mph, 422-foot dinger against A’s reliever Elvis Alvarado opened up Sunday’s series finale, stretching the Nationals’ lead from 2-1 to 4-1 with two outs in the fifth inning. And immediately, outfielder Dylan Crews followed with a shot to left field, giving the Nats their third set of back-to-back homers this season and their second in the past 10 days.
“We kind of jumped around in [the dugout] after,” Abrams said. “It’s fun to go back to back, for sure.”
Crews’ seventh homer of the year was the Nationals’ 144th of the season, breaking a tie with the Yankees for the most in the Major Leagues pending New York’s late game against the Dodgers.
“They do such a good job of having a plan when they go up to bat every time, and they execute that plan,” Butera said. “And then, pretty good idea of how each pitcher’s going to attack them and where they need to look and what they need to look for to have success, and they stick to that.”
True to his manager’s words, Abrams followed a distinct approach against the hard-throwing Alvarado when the two matched up. The shortstop was wary of chasing an inside slider from the right-handed reliever, content instead to wait for a fastball.
Abrams took a first-pitch heater high, then got another on Alvarado’s next offering. At 98.5 mph, this fastball was toward the outer part of the plate, but it got enough of the strike zone.
“I got one out over [the plate], and I drove it through the middle,” Abrams said.
Abrams stayed in the box a moment to admire his handiwork, watching the ball crash off the batter’s eye in center field. And when Crews punished a slider two pitches later, it was a familiar sight for the Nationals, including starting pitcher Foster Griffin.
“They’ve been doing that all year,” Griffin said. “Any time we have a small lead, it’s only a matter of time before that lead stretches into a bigger lead. Our offense has been great for us all year.”
That has largely been thanks to Abrams and leadoff man James Wood, but with Wood going just 1-for-14 in the series in West Sacramento, it was up to Abrams to get the job done Sunday.
After striking out twice against lefty Jacob Lopez in his first two at-bats, the Nats’ shortstop followed his homer with a double and a walk. He increased his season OPS to .869, and he is tied for third in MLB and tied for second in the NL with 70 RBIs.
Those numbers earned Abrams the start at shortstop for the National League in Tuesday’s All-Star Game. The first Nats shortstop to start the Midsummer Classic, Abrams said the best part of the All-Star experience in Philadelphia actually came one day prior.
“My favorite part was probably the Home Run Derby,” Abrams said Saturday. “It was fun to watch.”
This year, Abrams has been putting on his own Home Run Derby. He’s on pace for 34 homers, which would dwarf his career-high 20 from 2024, his first All-Star season.
With a three-game set against the Rockies at Coors Field beginning Monday, Abrams and the Nats were happy to get a series win and improve their road record to 30-19, tied for the second best in MLB.
“That’s baseball,” Abrams said. “They got the better of us yesterday. We came out today on top. Good series dub. Let’s go on to Colorado.”