Young Nationals torch Cardinals in blowout win (updated)

Hope for the Nationals came on a 97-degree late Saturday afternoon, the kind of afternoon in which the shaded side of the ballpark is packed while the sunny side is vacated. And the kind of afternoon in which the youngest players on the field delivered the promise of what’s to come during what this organization hopes is a rousing second half to this season of transition.

One of the majors’ least-powerful lineups over the last three months torched Lance Lynn and the Cardinals for a season-high 14 runs, thanks in large part to three home runs hit by players ages 25, 23 and 21. And even though their own young starter failed to seize a huge early lead and made things far more interesting than they needed to be, the Nats still had all kinds of reason to celebrate a 14-6 victory on South Capitol Street.

"It's cool, just seeing what we're capable of," rookie James Wood said. "And also just knowing how much more we can grow."

Wood led the way with his first career homer in his sixth career major league game, also adding a two-run double to give him five RBIs in the first three innings alone. He was joined by CJ Abrams and Keibert Ruiz, who also homered during their 11-run barrage against Lynn.

Wood came up one RBI shy of the single-game club rookie record set by Danny Espinosa in 2010. He’s still got 73 games remaining on the schedule to try to top today’s performance.

The Nationals also got a hit from Trey Lipscomb in his return the big leagues after Nick Senzel was designated for assignment earlier in the afternoon. All told, the Nats’ 10 starters today in the field and at the plate had an average age of 25, only one of them (30-year-old Jesse Winker) older than 28.

"There’s a good core. And there's still many more to come," manager Davey Martinez said. "This is only the beginning of what we're trying to do here. I think our future's really bright."

The first two innings of this game had to be the most joyous of the season for anyone who has followed the Nationals since Opening Day. A lineup loaded with young bats, including the recently called-up Wood and Trey Lipscomb, ransacked Lynn to open up a 9-0 lead.

The first inning saw homers by Abrams and Ruiz, each on the first pitch. It saw four runs cross the plate. The second inning saw five more runs cross the plate via four hits and two walks.

"It's fun," said Ruiz, who wound up an unlikely triple away from hitting for the cycle. "It just gives us confidence during the game, gives us a better chance to win the game."

The biggest hit, though, came from the biggest guy on the field in either uniform. With two on and two out in the second, Wood dug in, took two fastballs out of the zone, got a third one right over the heart of the plate and drilled it 383 feet the other way for the first home run of his young career.

As he circled the bases to a thunderous roar from the crowd, Wood looked very much at home. He was greeted at the plate by hugs from Abrams and Lane Thomas, then got to wear the Uncle Sam hat in the dugout after Ildemaro Vargas jumped up to reach the top of the 6-foot-7 rookie’s head.

"Getting home, seeing everybody greeting me there, it was pretty cool," said Wood, who exchanged a signed bat and ball and took photos with the two young fans who caught his homer.

There was some poetry to this momentous occasion, too. Wood was 10 years old, living in Olney, Md., when Jayson Werth homered off Lynn to win Game 4 of the 2012 National League Division Series. Twelve years later, the local kid also homered off Lynn, nearly to the same spot in left field, producing the latest in a week full of special moments for the hometown kid.

"He's been playing really well since he's been here," Martinez said of Wood, who is 7-for-23 with four walks in his debut week. "I love his at-bats. He's very patient. He's trying to get the ball in the zone, which we talked to him about since spring training. He's doing well."

Up 9-0, the rest of this game should’ve been a cakewalk for the Nationals. MacKenzie Gore had cruised through his first two innings on 25 pitches, and now he had the freedom to go right after every St. Louis batter and force them to swing the bat. Which is decidedly not what happened next.

Instead of attacking the zone, Gore nibbled around the edges. Instead of putting the Cardinals out of their misery, he gave them new life. After retiring six of the first seven batters of the game, he retired only four of the next 14. And of the 10 batters who reached, five did so via walk.

Just like that, a 9-0 lead in the second turned into a 9-4 lead in the third. And even after Wood extended the lead to 11-4 with a two-run double in the bottom of the third, Gore came back out for the fourth and walked three straight batters, with a run-scoring wild pitch that Ruiz couldn’t find sitting on the limestone backstop thrown in there for good measure. It was now 11-5, and here came Martinez to the mound to pull his starter.

"After that, in that heat, I think he just got gassed a little bit," the manager said. "It was hot, and he had thrown that many pitches. We tried to stretch him out, because our bullpen has been beat up. But (pitching coach Jim) Hickey and I said he can't go anymore."

If ever there was a day the Nats needed length from Gore, this was it. Having played five tight games in five days, three of them going to extra innings, the bullpen was on fumes, especially the top group that typically pitches in close games. Instead, the young lefty lasted only 3 1/3 innings, giving up five runs, throwing 90 pitches (65 of those in the third and fourth innings alone). His team led by six runs, but he would’ve needed to record five more outs just to qualify for the win.

"This one's frustrating, just for that reason," Gore said. "It was kind of on me, the one that was doing it. ... We did win the game, but lord help our bullpen, cause that was a tough one. From me."

It was up to that depleted bullpen, with no true long man on staff, to take this one home, but the three available guys did it. Jacob Barnes matched his season-high with 34 pitches over two scoreless innings. Jordan Weems threw a season-high 38 pitches across 2 2/3 innings of one-run ball. And Tanner Rainey finished it off with a scoreless ninth, making sure none of the other exasperated relievers had to warm up and making sure everyone could just enjoy a blowout win made possible by a lineup full of youngsters.

"After what happened last night (an 11-inning loss in which they blew an early 5-0 lead), to see them bounce back today and do what they did, that says a lot about the character of these guys," Martinez said. "And our young players, they're hungry. They want to play. I was very proud of the way we came out today and hit the baseball."