Young bats lead the way in Nats' rout of Orioles (updated)

BALTIMORE – In their season-long search for more offensive punch, the Nationals tonight found plenty of it from one key piece of their long-term plan and one unexpected new piece of the puzzle who might just play his way into the long-term plan if he keeps this up.

Behind the second four-hit night of James Wood’s young career and a record-setting three-double night from Andrés Chaparro in his major league debut, the Nats busted out at the plate during a 9-3 victory over the Orioles.

Facing a Baltimore pitching staff that held them to a grand total of 15 runs in their last nine head-to-head matchups, the Nationals put forth one of their best offensive showings in a while, their highest scoring output against the Orioles since May 22, 2021, when their lineup included Trea Turner, Juan Soto and Ryan Zimmerman.

The names involved tonight can’t come close to comparing to that trio, but given how inexperienced they are, who can say with any certainty what they will become when it’s all said and done?

Wood, the top-rated prospect in baseball not long ago, continued to hit the ball extremely hard with three singles and a double that all boasted an exit velocity of at least 99.5 mph. Chaparro, a power-hitting corner infielder stuck at Triple-A the last two seasons but acquired two weeks ago from the Diamondbacks for reliever Dylan Floro, put on the kind of power display the Nats have dreamed of getting all year from their first basemen.

"You see his approach is really good," manager Davey Martinez said. "I watched him in BP, and his approach was just hitting line drives the other way. And the last round, he was just cranking them. His at-bats were good today. If he can stay like that consistently, he'll hit."

Jake Irvin has been the recipient of some of the worst run support in baseball this season, so how thrilled must the right-hander have been when his teammates supplied him a 2-0 lead before he even took the mound tonight?

The Nationals jumped on Trevor Rogers – a familiar face to them after 4 1/2 seasons in Miami – in the top of the first thanks to a CJ Abrams double, a Juan Yepez walk and a 105.9-mph single to left by Wood, the first of three rockets the rookie hit off Rogers during the game. Wood would get picked off by Rogers a few minutes later, but he still managed to buy enough time in a rundown to get Yepez across the plate before he was tagged out to end the inning.

And the Nats didn’t let up. Wood ignited another two-run rally in the fourth with another single, then went first-to-third on Chaparro’s double to left, celebrating the new guy’s first career hit. Both would score on sacrifice flies.

"It was a lot of fun for me," Wood said. "Because he had me running every time I got on first. I didn't get to do much standing out there. It was a lot of fun to watch."

The key rally, though, came in the sixth, when the Nationals piled on and gave themselves – and Irvin – some much appreciated cushion. And it once again was ignited by Wood and Chaparro, whose double to deep left-center made him only the third player in club history with two extra-base hits in his major league debut, joining the eclectic duo of Ian Desmond and Brandon Watson.

"I was just very excited," Chaparro said, via interpreter Octavio Martinez said. "I was just very anxious to get the game started, and then just excited at the whole moment. It's one of those feelings that's just overwhelming."

Ildemaro Vargas followed with a two-run single to right, then scored himself shortly after when Jacob Young also singled to right and then got himself into a rundown. That three-run rally extended the lead to five runs, and made life a whole lot easier on Irvin, who finished a quality start on a high note.

Irvin entered with only one quality start since his July 4 gem against the Mets, victimized too often by the lethal combination of walks and homers. So what made him successful tonight? He issued only one walk. And though he did surrender a homer, it was a mostly harmless, solo shot by Anthony Santander that hardly disrupted the proceedings.

Irvin’s best work came in the bottom of the second, which opened with three straight singles. One of the runners scored, but with a chance to let the inning spiral out of control, he responded by setting up rookie Jackson Holliday beautifully with four straight curveballs before sneaking a changeup past him, then getting Ramón Urías to fly out to right to end the frame.

"Honestly, I think that second inning was pretty big," Irvin said. "In the past couple outings, those innings have gone to two, three runs. This week of work, the big emphasis was to execute. Execute pitch-to-pitch. Luckily we came into a situation in the second inning where I was able to bear down and execute good pitches. And I think that kind of helped me settle in for the rest of the outing."

Indeed, Irvin cruised most of the rest of his night. And once he had that comfortable lead, he made quick work of the Orioles during his sixth and final inning. He needed only 14 pitches to retire the side, then retreated to the dugout where high-fives and handshakes awaited.

"They can hit," Martinez said of the Orioles. "They've got a lot of guys with slug. But he did a great job today."

And when Wood and Chaparro teamed up one last time in the top of the eighth to produce another insurance run, the 21-year-old future star had the second four-hit game of a career that began only six weeks ago, while the 25-year-old just called up today had only the fourth three-double debut in major league history.

"I'm not going to lie and say I've never dreamed of this day, and how it would go," Chaparro said. "As well as it went today, I couldn't have dreamt a better dream. Especially because I was able to contribute the way I did to help the team win."