WASHINGTON – There is something about facing the Cincinnati Reds that seems to bring out the best in Daylen Lile. The Louisville, Ky., native put on a show in front of friends and family at Great American Ball Park in May and again delivered against the Reds on Friday in the Nationals’ 5-3 series-opening win.
Lile crushed a three-run home run in the bottom of the first to snap a personal 0-for-13 funk and give the Nationals an early 3-0 lead. Lile then hit a leadoff double to right in the bottom of the fourth and scored two batters later when Harry Ford launched a two-run blast to left-center. Lile is up to 15 homers on the year, while Ford went deep for the second time since being recalled after the All-Star break. The homers from Lile and Ford give the Nationals an MLB-best 170 home runs for the season.
Lile ultimately went 2-for-4 in Friday’s series opener with a double, homer, two runs scored and three runs driven in. In four games against the Reds this season, Lile is now 7-for-17 with four homers, five runs scored and 10 RBIs.
With James Wood on the 10-day IL and the Nationals having recently traded Luis García Jr. and Curtis Mead, the Majors’ highest-scoring team this season is suddenly looking for others to do heavy lifting. Lile, who burst onto the scene as a rookie last summer but has battled inconsistency this season, is among those the team could be leaning on.
“I think the big thing is pitch selection for him,” manager Blake Butera said before Friday’s series opener.
“Timing is a big thing for him right now. But he looks better and better each time he’s in the box and I know he’s putting the work in, our hitting coaches are spending a lot of time with him, so hopefully we can see some fruits of the labor this weekend.”
With Lile serving as the offensive catalyst, Cade Cavalli was able to overcome three solo homers to deliver a sixth consecutive quality start.
Eugenio Suárez, Matt McLain and Elly De La Cruz took Cavalli deep in the opening three innings, but the Nationals workhorse relied on his curveball, had strong command for much of the outing and benefitted from strong defense behind him.
With the Nationals up 5-3 in the fifth and the Reds threatening with two on and one out, Cavalli retired Sal Stewart on an inning-ending 5-4-3 double play. Third baseman Brady House snagged the grounder, threw to José Tena (making just his fourth start of the season at second base), who then bounced his throw to a stretched-out Abimelec Ortiz at first.
Cavalli worked around a leadoff walk in the sixth and returned for the seventh with his pitch count at 90. Once Noelvi Marte and Ke’Bryan Hayes reached on back-to-back singles, Butera turned to reliever Yovanny Cruz with two on and none out and the potential go-ahead run at the plate.
Cruz, who joined the Nationals this week as part of the deal that sent García to the Yankees, struck out McLain and walked De La Cruz before getting Stewart to ground into a 6-3 inning-ending double play.
Cavalli ultimately threw six-plus innings, allowing three runs on seven hits with eight strikeouts and two walks.
Orlando Ribalta then threw a 1-2-3 eighth inning, before Clayton Beeter pitched a scoreless ninth for his 12th save.