Abrams, Meneses shine, but rest of Nats fall flat in loss (updated)

On the night they lost for the 15th time in their last 16 home games – a stretch of futility that is increasingly hard to fathom – the Nationals saw Trevor Williams give up two runs early and two runs late. They saw Joan Adon make his 2023 major league debut and give up home runs to two of the first three batters he faced. They saw Joey Meneses finally end his power slump with a pair of solo homers.

All of those developments were notable within the context of this particular game, a 7-2 loss to the Rangers. None was necessarily earth-shattering in the larger scheme of things.

In this rebuilding season, the focus has been and will continue to be on the handful of young players who could be building blocks for the future. And CJ Abrams has always been near the top of the list of players who fit that description.

So the most significant thing that happened tonight may not have been the end result, but the name of the player Davey Martinez wrote down in the No. 1 position on his lineup card.

"He's had almost 300 plate appearances now, so I think it's time," the manager said. "I think it's time we push him up, see what he can do. He's got all the ability to be a really good leadoff hitter. Now he's just got to understand what he needs to do every day to do that: That's to be consistent, not chase and try to get on base. Not try to do too much."

Abrams’ performance tonight wasn’t enough to propel the Nationals to victory against the American League West leaders, but it offered plenty of encouraging moments about his chances of sticking as the team’s leadoff hitter for the remainder of the season (as Martinez hopes he will).

"I wanted to see if he gets better pitches. I want to see how he handles himself swinging at better pitches," Martinez said. "Tonight was a great night for him."

Abrams took four plate appearances, the first three of which would be considered quality at-bats. He grounded out on the fifth pitch he saw in the first inning. He drew a seven-pitch walk in the third inning. He singled to right on the sixth pitch he saw in the fifth inning, then stole second base.

"I've been working on it," Abrams said. "That's when I'm going good; I can shrink the zone and hit my pitch. That's when things go good."

Abrams did strike out on three pitches against reliever Glenn Otto in the seventh, but he also put on a show in the field at shortstop, making multiple eye-opening plays including a nice sliding stop of Josh Jung’s seventh-inning grounder up the middle and subsequent throw to first from his knees.

"The play he made behind second base, unbelievable," Martinez said.

"I was kind of letting the athleticism take over. I wasn't really thinking," Abrams said with a shrug. "It was kind of cool, though."

It’s only one game, and he’ll need to prove this over many more. But having entered this one with a .375 on-base percentage and .510 slugging percentage over his previous 15 games, Abrams already seemed to be on an upward track, convincing Martinez it was time to bump him up to the leadoff spot for the first time in his career.

"I've put in the work," he said. "We've been working in the cage, me and (hitting coaches Darnell Coles and Pat Roessler). We've been hitting my pitch in the cage, and it translates out there on the field."

Sadly, Abrams’ exploits tonight did little to jumpstart the Nationals’ lineup. Neither did Meneses’ two solo homers, the first time he had cleared the fence since May 7 in Arizona exactly two months ago.

"It's somewhat of a relief," Meneses said, via interpreter Octavio Martinez. "I can take a deep breath and relax a little bit. It's my job to hit, so it was great to be able to hit two home runs today."

That left pressure on the Nats pitching staff to hold down a potent Texas lineup, which did not happen.

Williams’ evening did not get off to an encouraging start. During a 25-pitch top of the first, he issued two walks, surrendered two hits and saw the Rangers jump out to a 2-0 lead to set an ominous tone for the series opener. But the right-hander quickly settled in and did what he’s been doing throughout the season’s first half: Give his team a chance.

The Rangers would score two more runs off Williams, all coming via three straight two-out hits in the fifth. On most nights, that would’ve signaled the end of his night. On this night, with a taxed bullpen in need of a break, Williams was allowed to continue.

"Once he got out of the fifth, we thought: Let's give him about 105 pitches, see if he can get through," Martinez said. "And he did really well. We needed him."

He wound up finishing out the fifth, then pitching the sixth as well. Along the way, he was given the opportunity to face an opposing lineup four times in a start for the first time since 2020. And his eventual pitch count of 110 was not only the highest of his season, it was the third-highest of his career.

"Everyone knows we had to cover almost nine innings yesterday from the bullpen," Williams said. "That's my job. My job is to give as many bullets as possible. Thankfully today was I able to do 110. I would like to go 100 pitches and go eight-plus (innings), but today was six. And Adon covering three innings for us at the end was huge for our bullpen as well."

Adon, summoned from Triple-A Rochester today to provide a fresh arm for a bullpen that had been overworked this week, provided necessary innings but couldn’t keep the game within reach. He surrendered homers to both Corey Seager and Adolis Garcia in the seventh, then gave up another run in the eighth, ultimately dooming the Nationals to yet another home loss.

"You always try to play well for the fans here at home," Meneses said. "You want to win at home. And you feel like you're letting them down when you don't execute like you do, especially because it seems like we've been playing better on the road. That's how we'd like to play at home, and it's disappointing we can't pull those wins out for the fans."