Young Nats flex power in win over Marlins

JUPITER, Fla. – Today’s Grapefruit League matchup between the Nationals and Marlins started off slow. In fact, it started late before it started off slow.

After a 23-minute rain delay, the first three innings seemed to drag along with nothing really of note happening. James Wood was playing left field for the first time since dealing with right quad tendinitis, but he only had one ball hit toward him.

A slow-paced, actionless game is not uncommon during spring training.

Then the action picked up real fast and all of a sudden the game – which resulted in an 8-7 Nationals victory – was quite interesting. The batters started taking advantage of the 20-plus mph wind gusts out to left-center field, as opposed to the incoming winds yesterday in West Palm Beach.

Through the first three innings, the only things of note were Andrew Pinckney’s strong throw from right field for an out at home, and Wood and Robert Hassell III winning two Automated Balls and Strikes (ABS) challenges against former Cy Young Award winner Sandy Alcantara.

Wood pumped a little more juice into Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium with his first home run of the spring. Facing right-hander Valente Bellozo, the big outfielder hit a low fastball for an opposite-field shot at 110.8 mph off the bat. The ball went 367 feet just over the left-center field wall.

“I faced him last year, Bellozo, and he had a really good start against us,” Wood said. “So kind of had an idea of what he had and what he was trying to do. He's tricky. He's a tricky at-bat. You just got to stay disciplined and just ready for whatever. He'll throw everything at you. So you gotta stay in your approach. That's really it.”

Luis García Jr., who had been out since Saturday with an illness, hit his first homer of spring two batters later. Bellozo left a sweeper right over the plate and the second baseman crushed it over 400 feet to center field.

Pinckney followed in the fifth inning by also hitting his first homer off Bellozo. The right-handed hitter muscled an outside sweeper 100 mph off the bat and 406 feet to center for his first longball of camp.

And finally Cayden Wallace, of last summer’s Hunter Harvey trade, became the fourth young National to go deep for the first time in the eighth. Wallace crushed a 95 mph sinker from right-hander Brett de Geus 106.1 mph off the bat and 432 feet to left-center field. His two-run shot pulled the Nats to within one run of the Marlins.

Daylen Lile then tied the game with an RBI double and scored the winning run by sprinting home on a wild pitch by de Geus.

“We focus so much right now on pitch selection, what to swing at, that when we do get that pitch, go ahead. We want to see your A swing,” manager Davey Martinez said. “And they're actually starting to grasp it. Everybody looks like they're starting to get a little better timing. Trying to get the ball out front a little bit better. And that's always a good sign.”

All in all, after a slow start, it was a very impressive afternoon for the group of young Nationals. As a team, they finished with eight runs, five walks and 10 hits, with seven going for extra bases.

“It was good. We got some balls up in the air. A good day to hit the ball in the air,” Martinez said. “We had good at-bats. Good at-bats. I saw some really good things. … All in all, a really good day swinging the bats.”

* Shinnosuke Ogasawara needed a lot of pitches to get through his outing. The Japanese left-hander was charged with four hits, two runs, one walk and two strikeouts, but needed 62 pitches (40 strikes) to finish two innings plus one batter.

“I'm having a good spring training so far,” Ogasawara said, via interpreter Jumpei Ohashi. “I can communicate very well with coaches, manager, players. So I just want to appear every day (that I'm) getting better to them. Only I can do it.”

A leadoff walk in the third ended his outing. He fell short of his inning target of three or four, but well exceeded his pitches target of 40.

“Shino in the first inning, a lot of weak contact, a lot of ground balls. But he threw the ball a lot better. He really did,” Martinez said. “His fastball was 93 (mph). His changeup was really good again. And his curveball was good. I think he’s starting to really grasp his routine.

“He wanted to go back out there. He threw 62 pitches and I thought that was good enough for him. He loves to pitch and he's a competitor. All in all, I thought he threw the ball better. He threw the ball with more conviction today. So I think it's just a matter of, like I said, him feeling comfortable and just going out there, getting the ball and doing his thing.”

* Mitchell Parker, who was scheduled to follow Ogasawara out of the bullpen, didn’t pitch today because he’s dealing with a stiff neck.

“He woke up with a stiff neck yesterday. Felt better today,” Martinez said. “We didn't want him to do anything today, but get treatment. We'll get him back out there as soon as we can. It's just a stiff neck. I don't know if he slept on it wrong.”