WASHINGTON -- Finally, James Wood could savor this grand slam.
The first of his career was an inside-the-park spectacular that had him hustling around the basepaths on May 19. There was no time to celebrate until he crossed home plate and caught his breath.
On Monday night, he had an opportunity to enjoy it.
Wood swung powerfully at a fastball from Astros reliever AJ Blubaugh and confidently watched the ball fly. This time, it didn’t just leave the park -- it majestically soared a Statcast-projected 446 feet out to center field.
It was Wood’s fourth-longest career home run, and it traveled at 109.8 mph. He tied Michael A. Taylor for the longest grand slam by a Nationals player in the Statcast era (since 2015). Taylor also pummeled the ball 446 feet on May 13, 2015, against Arizona.
The grand slam put an exclamation mark on Washington’s 12-11 comeback win at Nationals Park. After trailing the Astros, 6-1, halfway through the third inning, the Nats scored five runs in the bottom of the frame. They added on another six runs in the fifth.
Wood drove in Dylan Crews, Jacob Young and Nasim Nuñez to reach the 60-RBI mark. Nuñez reached first base safely on an overturned call with a sprint speed of 31.3 feet per second, above his 29.6 season average. He has nine of the Nationals’ 11 fastest runs this season.
Wood, who earned his second All-Star selection, has hit 24 home runs this season. He leads the Nationals and ranks seventh among all big league players.
CJ Abrams and Curtis Mead also went yard for the Nats. Abrams matched his home run total from last season (19). With Mead connecting on his 15th home run, he joined Wood, Abrams and Luis García Jr. to help the Nationals tie the Dodgers (Freddie Freeman, Max Muncy, Shohei Ohtani, Andy Pages) for the most players with 15-plus homers on a team this year.