CLEVELAND — The last time the Washington Nationals were over .500 this late in the season, James Wood was days away from being selected in the second round of The Draft by the San Diego Padres, Curtis Mead was playing for the Low-A Charleston RiverDogs in the Tampa Bay Rays’ organization and CJ Abrams had just finished playing in the Futures Game.
That day was July 1, 2021, when the Nationals had a 40-39 record before the bottom fell out on their season.
On Monday, that trio of Wood, Mead and Abrams helped power the Nationals to a 10-2 win over the Guardians to push their record to 28-27.
Wood got things started early with a leadoff shot on Tanner Bibee’s sixth pitch of the game. It was the classic Wood homer, as it left his bat at 107.7 miles per hour and traveled 412 feet to right-center field.
That was part of a big first inning highlighted by a homer from Mead to left field that was caught by a fan aptly wearing a Team Australia shirt.
Mead followed that up by adding another homer in the fifth inning off Guardians reliever Matt Festa, marking the first multi-homer game of his career.
Those homers were part of another fantastic day for the Nationals' offense, as Jared Young and Luis García Jr. both put balls in the seats in the second inning, while Abrams’ blast came in the form of a no-doubt shot in the third inning. The Nationals ended with six homers in the win.
That offensive barrage backed a solid pitching performance from Zack Littell, who allowed just one run across the final seven innings of the game in relief of starter PJ Poulin.