Nationals Stat of the Day: August 2021

MLB.com is keeping track of a Stat of the Day for the Nationals this season, highlighting a unique, interesting or fun nugget from each game.

• Nationals Stat of the Day, July 2021

Aug. 31: Phillies 12, Nationals 6 -- Bell streaking
Josh Bell extended his hitting streak to eight games while making his first career start in left field. He is batting .387 during that stretch, including three home runs and seven RBIs.

Aug. 30: Phillies 7, Nationals 4 -- Kieboom clicking
Carter Kieboom hit his fifth home run of the season and went 2-for-4 in the series opener. He's continued his success vs. the Nationals' division rival, hitting safely in six straight games against the Phillies and batting .455 during that stretch.

Aug. 29: Mets 9, Nationals 4 -- Soto snags No. 30
In addition to pummeling his 22nd home run and surpassing 100 walks on the season on Sunday, Juan Soto also reached a career milestone. His stolen base against the Mets was good for the 30th of his career. Soto now has seven on the year.

Aug. 28: Mets 5, Nationals 3 -- Another SP sets career mark
New York native Sean Nolin notched a career-high six strikeouts while allowing two runs in 5 1/3 innings against the Mets. He joined Erick Fedde (10) and Paolo Espino (seven) as Nationals starters to establish a career high in strikeouts this week.

Aug. 27: Nationals 2, Mets 1 -- Espino's elite command
With a zero-walk start against the Mets, Paolo Espino ranks fourth among National League pitchers (min. 80 IP) in fewest walks per 9 innings (1.67). He credited the success to his command, which also helped him record a career-high seven strikeouts.

Aug. 26: Marlins 7, Nationals 5 -- Soto smokes one
Power and speed: Juan Soto's 21st shot of the season had it all, as he crushed a pitch from Elieser Hernandez 433 feet with an exit velocity of 114.1 mph. The dinger marked the hardest-hit homer of Soto's career and his second-longest of the season.

Aug. 25: Marlins 4, Nationals 3 (10) -- Gray's hot stuff
In each of Josiah Gray's five starts with the Nationals, he has thrown at least five frames and held opponents to five hits or fewer in each. Looking back at franchise history (including the Expos), Gray is just the second pitcher to establish those numbers in his first five starts, joining Chris Nabholz as a rookie in 1990.

Aug. 24: Nationals 5, Marlins 1 -- Zimmerman crushes it
With a 415-foot home run and two RBIs in Miami, Ryan Zimmerman moved to first place in the active player leaderboards with the most career hits (230), homers (40), doubles (45), RBIs (120) and runs scored (129) against the Marlins. He is one home run shy of tying Ryan Howard for most home runs vs. the Fish.

Aug. 22: Brewers 7, Nationals 3 -- Yadi on a tearing hot stretch
Yadiel Hernandez has been making the most of his increased playing time in left field. Following the series against the Brewers, he has hit safely in 16 of his last 22 games. Hernandez is batting .358 (24-for-67) during that stretch.

Aug. 21: Brewers 9, Nationals 6 -- Soto's OBP soaring
Who said it's unlucky No. 13? In Juan Soto's last 13 games, he has safely reached base in 34 of his 51 plate appearances. That adds up to a head-turning .667 on-base percentage.

Aug. 20: Nationals 4, Brewers 1 -- Thomas' first triple
Lane Thomas dashed to his first career triple against Brewers left-hander Brett Anderson. After Thomas sent a line drive into right field, he hustled to third base at a sprint speed of 29.2 feet per second, according to Statcast. That exceeds his season average of 28.7 feet/second, and it is well above the MLB average of 27.0 feet/second.

Aug. 18: Nationals 8, Blue Jays 5 -- Soto hits 20th HR
Age has been just a number to Juan Soto his entire career. In the series finale against the Blue Jays, Soto hit his 20th home run of the season. In doing so, he became the 16th player in AL/NL history to accumulate at least three seasons of 20 or more homers by their age-22 season.

Aug. 17: Nationals 12, Blue Jays 6 -- Personal best for Soto
An eighth-inning double by Juan Soto had a 116.6 mph exit velocity, making it the hardest-hit batted ball in his four-year career. It also was the hardest-hit ball of a game that saw 18 runs and 20 hits between the teams.

Aug. 15: Braves 6, Nationals 5 -- Machado's one run allowed
Andres Machado continues to be effective out of the bullpen, capping off a 10-game stretch dating back to July 17 with only one run allowed. The right-hander has a 0.84 ERA over his last 10 2/3 innings.

Aug. 14: Braves 12, Nationals 2 -- Multihit game for Robles
Leadoff batter Victor Robles recorded his 11th multihit game of the season with a pair of hits on Saturday. He is hitting .321 (9-for-28) in his last seven games.

Aug. 13: Braves 4, Nationals 2 -- Gray limiting walks early on
Josiah Gray is showing an encouraging trend early in his career with the Nationals. The 23-year-old fanned six without issuing a walk in Friday's game against the Braves. Over his first three starts with the Nats, Gray has recorded 18 strikeouts to only four walks.

Aug. 12: Mets 5, Nationals 4 (Game 2); Mets 4, Nationals 1 (Game 1) -- Zimmerman passes Wallach
Ryan Zimmerman played his 1,768th career game in the nightcap, moving ahead of Tim Wallach for most in franchise (Nationals/Expos) history. Known as "Mr. National," Zimmerman also holds the franchise marks in multiple categories, including at-bats, runs, hits, RBIs and home runs.

Aug. 11: Mets 8, Nationals 7 -- Soto goes oppo
With an opposite-field dinger, Juan Soto notched his 14th oppo home run since the start of the 2020 season. That's good for three more than any other lefty hitter in that stretch, ahead of former teammate Kyle Schwarber (11).

Aug. 8: Braves 5, Nationals 4 -- Zim ties record for games played
With his start at first base on Sunday, Ryan Zimmerman tied Tim Wallach's franchise record for games played at 1,767. He had his 282nd career multihit game with two doubles and an RBI single. Zimmerman already owned the Nationals/Expos records for plate appearances, at-bats, runs scored, hits, doubles, home runs and RBIs, among others.

Aug. 7: Nationals 3, Braves 2 -- Gray's K's tie Nats rookie mark
Josiah Gray became the fifth Nationals rookie to strike out 10-plus batters in a game. He only needed five innings to do so, and all of his punchouts were swinging. The most recent Nats rookie to fan 10-plus in a game was Reynaldo López, also against the Braves, on Aug. 18, 2016.

Aug. 6: Braves 8, Nationals 4 -- Fedde finally knocks in a run
Erick Fedde briefly gave the Nats the lead in the fifth inning with a sacrifice fly to left-center field. It was his first career RBI and came after quite the wait. Before that RBI, Fedde had gone 66 plate appearances without knocking in a run, the fourth-longest RBI-less stretch to open a career among active pitchers. The three active pitchers with longer streaks are Junior Guerra (104 plate appearances), Derek Holland (91) and Dinelson Lamet (68).

Aug. 5: Phillies 7, Nationals 6 -- Bell's low launch angle
Josh Bell's three-run homer in the fifth inning gave the Nationals the offense boost they needed. The 413-foot bomb was a no-doubter to center field. The Phils' center fielder just watched the ball fly over his head. He didn't have to look up very high to do that, though. The home run was the lowest over-the-fence homer of the season for Washington, leaving Bell's bat at a Statcast-projected 18-degree launch angle.

Aug. 4: Phillies 9, Nationals 5 -- Runs allowed
Over 38 games and 12 career starts, Paolo Espino had never allowed more than four earned runs in his career, which came on July 2, 2017. In Wednesday's matchup, the righty allowed a career-high six runs on eight hits and one walk, while striking out three over five innings.

Aug. 3: Phillies 5, Nationals 4 -- Soto's on-base streak
With a single in the sixth inning, Juan Soto reached base for a 19th consecutive game on Tuesday. The 111.8 mph single was also the hardest-hit ball of the game. The 19-game streak is tied for the second-longest streak of his career -- behind a 21-game streak from June 13-July 4 this season.

Aug. 2: Phillies 7, Nationals 5 -- Stevenson's hardest hit
Andrew Stevenson hit his sixth career home run and his second as a pinch-hitter on Monday night. His Statcast-projected 388-foot homer left his bat at 108.1 mph, the hardest-hit long ball in his career. It clocks in as his second-hardest hit overall, just behind his 109.3 mph single on July 18.

Aug. 1: Nationals 6, Cubs 5 -- Yadiel's 4-hit, 2-HR day
Yadiel Hernandez had a career day at the plate on Sunday, hitting a walk-off home run -- his second homer of the day -- while going 4-for-5. The left fielder became the first National to record four hits and a walk-off homer since Elijah Dukes in 2008, and the first Major League player this season with four hits and a walk-off home run in the same game.