The Nationals’ blossoming stars James Wood and C.J. Abrams weren’t in any rush to speak to the media about their four combined home runs in Sunday’s 10-7 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks.
They had to squeeze in a couple of games of chess — mot a misprint. Chess: Kings, pawns, knights.
Abrams eeked out a checkmate against center fielder Jacob Young, while Wood conceded a loss in his postgame match.
The clubhouse’s new favorite pastime has become a parallel for the players’ offensive success.
“Me and C.J. were talking about it a little bit yesterday, just how what you’re looking for might change,” Wood said of the similarities between his approach on the board and at the plate. “And the cat-and-mouse aspect of it is similar to chess.”
Wood and Abrams won their cat-and-mouse games against Arizona’s pitchers on Sunday. They each knocked two home runs, becoming the seventh duo in Nationals history to manage the feat.
It’s part of a broader, friendly competition between the two young talents. They’re racing each other for the home run lead, both ranking in the top five in the National League.
Abrams struck first on Sunday, knocking a solo home run into left-center field off of a two-strike fastball below the strike zone. The deep fly tied the game in the bottom of the third.
The shortstop later told his manager that he wasn’t sure how he managed to power the hard-to-hit pitch over the wall.
“I’m just kind of getting through it, being able to stay through balls, not coming off,” Abrams said. “Being able to stay on those off-speed pitches through the other way is a good sign.”
Abrams’ first homer of the game was his 26th of the season, a record for a Nationals shortstop.
Wood, who leads the team in home runs this season, wasn’t going to let his teammate gain on him in their friendly competition.
“I was messing with him after he hit the first one. Like, ‘slow down,’” Wood said.
The hard-hitting outfielder responded with a two-run home run in the fifth that tied the game at 4. But Abrams followed up with a two-run shot of his own.
“I had one and he hit another one,” Wood said. “So I was like, ‘Dang. Alright.’”
Wood matched his teammate with his second home run of the day in the bottom of the eighth, giving Washington a sizeable 10-5 lead in the back-and-forth game.
The second homer was his 30th of the season, as Washington’s All-Star outfielder became the second player in franchise history to amass 30 home runs in back-to-back seasons. Adam Dunn was the first during the 2009 and 2010 campaigns.
The Nationals bullpen clung to the lead, securing the win despite allowing three runs in the final two innings. After the game, Nationals manager Blake Butera started to run out of praise for his shining stars.
“Both of those guys, to be able to do what they’ve done just day-in and day-out since the start of the year, how much they’ve carried this group offensively, not taking a day off and getting after it every single day,” the first-year manager said. “Huge tip of the cap to those guys.”
The other players in Washington’s clubhouse don’t take Wood and Abrams for granted. It’d be hard to do, they explained, when you’re watching them from the basepaths and the on-deck circle.
Third baseman Brady House had been watching from afar while he worked on his game over the last two months in Triple-A. Sunday was his first game back in the majors since May.
“It’s just totally different in-person,” said House, who hit two doubles with an RBI and two runs behind Abrams in the order. “Like, I’ve got a front-row seat to it; it’s pretty awesome.”
The offensive outbursts for Abrams and Wood aren’t empty calories, either. They’ve provided essential run support for a 54-52 club that leads the league in runs, despite struggling with consistency on the mound.
Sunday’s win gave Washington a series win over Arizona. The Nationals now trail the Diamondbacks by just one game in the NL wild-card race with two months remaining in the season.
Washington’s soft-spoken, chess-playing All-Stars have been largely responsible for the Nationals’ continued contention.
“They believe in one another,” Butera said of the players on the roster. “No one feels like they need to be the guy. When you have that mentality, it takes some pressure off of yourself and off the others around you. You just feel like it you pass it back and the next guy’s going to get the job done.”
The Nationals continue their homestand on Monday, as they open a three-game series against the Toronto Blue Jays. Pitcher Max Scherzer, who spent seven seasons in Washington, is expected to take the mound for Toronto to open the series.
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