Wood sparks series win over Cardinals with first 4-hit game

ST. LOUIS -- The Nationals continued to light up the scoreboard at Busch Stadium with a 14-3 win over the Cardinals on Saturday night. In a total team effort, MLB Pipeline’s No. 2 overall prospect James Wood led all players with a career-high four hits.

The Nats have scored 24 runs in their first two games of the series, after being no-hit by the Padres on Thursday. Washington will go for the sweep on Sunday afternoon.

“It started out as a weird game -- I think we left 12 runners on base -- but we came through in big moments as well,” manager Dave Martinez said. “The boys just started working good at-bats. We started getting the ball in the zone, not chasing, and then really driving the ball in the game. It was a big day, especially for some of our younger kids as well.”

An early 2-0 lead ballooned into a nine-run advantage when the Nationals sent 10 to the plate and scored seven runs in the sixth inning.

The Nats tabbed right-hander Harold Ramírez to pinch-hit for lefty-hitting Jesse Winker with the bases loaded when the Cardinals made a pitching change for southpaw Matthew Liberatore. Ramírez, whose career splits are .317 versus lefties, doubled into right field to score Trey Lipscomb and Jacob Young.

The pinch-hit decision was unrelated to Winker’s involvement in a trade to the Mets, which broke later in the game.

“I didn’t know [anything] about that,” Martinez said. “I thought the matchup was Harold against him. He came through, a big hit. Harold’s been working really hard, he’s trying to get his swing back. I know he can hit lefties really well, but in that big moment, he got a big hit for us.”

After Juan Yepez continued to do damage against his former team and Wood connected for the first multi-double game of his career, Keibert Ruiz drove them in with a three-run blast off Liberatore.

Wood would go on to add a 109.2 mph two-run single in the ninth. All four of his hits had an exit velocity of 104 mph or greater.

“He slowed everything down, slowed his feet down a little bit, wasn’t trying to do too much,” Martinez said. “He was trying to stay in the middle of the field, and he hit the ball really well.”

Said Wood, “I think I was kind of being picky with what I was trying to attack, and I was able to get pitches where I was able to do that.”

A collaborative effort is about the small things, too -- finding ways to get on base, coming through with runners on base. Lane Thomas and Luis García Jr. extended personal streaks that helped lead the Nats to the lopsided win.

Thomas reached base safely in his 24th straight game -- the longest active streak in MLB. He holds the Nationals’ season-best mark, and he is two games away from tying his personal mark of 26 games in 2023.

The longest on-base streak in baseball this season was 37 games by Yankees slugger Aaron Judge from May 2-June 12.

Batting in the bottom third of the order, García continues to do damage with runners in scoring position. He drove in Wood with an RBI single in the second inning, boosting his average to .750 (9-for-12) since July 3 with RISP.