WASHINGTON – Home runs by James Wood, Brady House and CJ Abrams Monday night ignited a late-inning, six-run rally in the Nationals' 9-6 over the Cardinals, snapping a five-game skid.
Wood’s bat made the biggest noise to begin the eighth-inning rally.
Down 6-3 with two men on, Wood crushed a 99.3 mph Ryne Stanek fastball 409 feet over the center-field wall. It was a laser line drive, with an amazing launch angle of 18 degrees.
Wood’s third homer, and second in as many games tied the game at six.
Curtis Mead then doubled off reliever Matt Svanson, and House’s second homer of the season, a two-run shot, put the Nationals in the lead for good, 8-6.
Abrams followed with his fourth homer of the season, a solo shot to right field that made it 9-6, and marked the 500th hit of his career.
Did someone say 500?
Welcome to the 500 club, Zack Littell.
Building off a five-inning season debut behind PJ Poulin against the Phillies last week, Littell made his first start with the Nationals impactful.
The right-hander built up five innings again, scattering four hits, allowing one run with three walks and six strikeouts, in a no-decision.
Littell started with four strikeouts in the first six batters he faced, mixing his splitter, slider and fastball for strikes. He allowed only one extra-base hit – a double by Thomas Saggese leading off the fifth. Against the Phillies on March 31, he gave up two homers.
His most memorable strikeout of the night came leading off the top of the second, when Littell set down Cardinals designated hitter Nolan Gorman with an 85.9-mph slider, reaching 500 punchouts for his nine-year career. It took the right-hander 612 career innings to reach the milestone, a span of 236 games (80 starts).
A big defensive play to help Littell’s cause arrived in the fourth off the bat of Gorman. His high fly ball deep towards the right-field foul pole was erased on a leaping catch in the glove of the 6-foot-6 Wood, robbing potential extra bases.
Littell has struck out 278 since the beginning of 2024 with the Rays, Reds and Nationals. He threw 70 pitches, 44 for strikes.
Cionel Pérez (1-1) tossed a scoreless ninth for the win, bouncing back from a nightmare outing against the Dodgers.
House finished 3-for-5 with a homer and two doubles. The Nationals pounded out 12 hits for their first win at home this season.