Nats could get used to this: Wood, Crews lead walk-off rally
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – The forecast for the Nationals is to see James Wood and Dylan Crews come up clutch in late-game situations in the future. The top prospects gave a glimpse into that on Thursday in a 9-8 walk-off win over the Twins.
“They’re not afraid of a big moment, and they stay in the moment,” manager Dave Martinez said. “Both of them were very calm, understood what they needed to do up there and both did a great job.”
Trailing 8-7 entering the bottom of the ninth, Wood (MLB No. 14 prospect, Nationals No. 2) evened the score with an opposite-field home run off left-hander Denny Bentley. The fly ball came off a slider as he worked back from an early 0-2 count.
“It started out kind of ugly,” Wood said, noting his first-pitch swinging strike. “But I was able to see some pitches. I was kind of fighting up there and was able to get a good enough pitch and do something with it.”
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Wood’s homer was his fourth of Spring Training and first since Feb. 29. He raised his slugging percentage to .707 and OPS to 1.198 in 21 Grapefruit League games.
“I just felt good, especially going the other way,” Wood, 21, said. “That’s something I’ve been trying to get back to. I wasn’t trying to force it over there, but I think that’s the part of the field I really wanted to stay at.”
Alex Call singled and stole second base to set the stage for Crews (MLB No. 7, Nationals No. 1) to play walk-off hero with two outs. Crews saw the first pitch from Bentley down the middle and delivered a line drive to center field to plate Call.
“Growing up, you learn to calm your nerves down and just treat it like another at-bat,” Crews, 22, said. “But it’s very exciting. Just to string some at-bats together and potentially win the ball game at the end, it’s a good feeling.”
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The 2023 Golden Spikes Award winner and College World Series champion Crews had the trust of his teammates when he came up to the plate.
“I don’t want to say I called it, but I kind of did,” said Wood. “I was like, ‘He’s going to get a changeup and he’s going to do something with it.’ That’s kind of what happened, so I saw it coming.”
Participating in an entire big-league camp has given Crews and Wood the opportunity to gain experience on the Major League Spring Training stage, which they view as just as big of a moment as any game.
“You get in the box against another team, and you’re going up there competing,” said Wood. “I feel like if it’s 10 fans, a thousand fans or however many fans, I feel like it’s all the same. I feel like when you get in there, it’s kind of just you and the pitcher.”
Echoed Crews, “The way you prepare everyday and the way you treat every game, it should be like it’s a regular season game or Game 7 of the World Series. It was a good win tonight for us.”