Nationals Stat of the Day: July 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.
July 31: Cubs 6, Nationals 3 -- Zimmerman's unsolved righty
Ryan Zimmerman went 0-for-3 against Kyle Hendricks, continuing his career hitless streak against the Cubs' right-hander. Zimmerman did reach base once, but it was ruled a fielding error. He is now 0-for-15 against Hendricks.
July 30: Nationals 4, Cubs 3 -- Deadline goodbyes
Washington made history with its Trade Deadline moves on Friday. Two deals -- one that sent Max Scherzer and Trea Turner to the Dodgers, the other that sent Kyle Schwarber to the Red Sox -- combined to mark the first time three teammates were named All-Stars, then traded away the same season. The trades came as the Nats commit to a rebuild.
July 29: Nationals 3, Phillies 1 (Game 1) | Phillies 11, Nationals 8 (Game 2, eight innings) -- Scherzer's place in Nats lore
Max Scherzer struck out five over six innings of one-run ball in Washington's Game 1 victory. His 1,610 strikeouts since joining the Nationals in 2015 are by far the most in the Majors during that span. Gerrit Cole is second on the list with 1,368.
Scherzer also picked up his 92nd win as a National, fourth-most in Nationals/Expos history. His 1,610 strikeouts rank third, while he sits atop the franchise leaderboard in strikeouts per nine innings (11.8), WHIP (0.96), strikeout-to-walk ratio (5.8) and ERA+ (151).
July 27: Nationals 6, Phillies 4 -- Soto swats another
Juan Soto went the opposite way for a no-doubt three-run homer in the second inning. It was his MLB-leading seventh home run since the All-Star break, though his resurgence actually predates the break by a few days. Soto has nine homers in his last 17 games dating to July 6, doubling his total from the first 73 games.
July 26: Phillies 6, Nationals 5 -- Doubling up on triples
Back-to-back homers are always great, but they're not nearly as rare as what Josh Bell and Josh Harrison pulled off against the Phillies. Bell roped an RBI triple off the top of the right-field wall in the fourth inning and Harrison followed with a run-scoring triple down the left-field line. In doing so, Bell and Harrison became the first pair of Nationals teammates to hit back-to-back RBI triples since the club moved to D.C. The last duo to accomplish the feat for the franchise, dating back to its Montreal era, was Vladimir Guerrero and Manny Martinez, who hit back-to-back RBI triples for the Expos -- each off Hall of Famer John Smoltz -- in a June 24, 1999, contest against the Braves.
July 25: Orioles 5, Nationals 4 -- O's hand Brad 2nd straight loss
After blowing the save and allowing the walk-off run in the ninth inning against the Orioles, closer Brad Hand was charged with his second loss in as many appearances. This marked the second time this season he has picked up an "L" in back-to-back outings (previously, May 9 and 12). For Hand, who began his Major League career as a starter, doing so in consecutive appearances is a rarity. Entering this season, he had been charged with a loss in back-to-back appearances only once in his career as a reliever, on May 23 and 25, 2016.
July 24: Orioles 5, Nationals 3 -- Lester returns to OPACY
Having played nine seasons with the Red Sox, Jon Lester is no stranger to the American League East Orioles. But after moving to the National League in 2015, his matchups with the O's have become far less frequent. So much so, Saturday marked his first start in Baltimore since March 31, 2014.
July 23: Orioles 6, Nationals 1 -- Soto steps up with bat, glove
In the field and at the plate, Juan Soto is achieving standout marks this season. Entering Friday's game, Soto ranked in the 97th percentile for hard-hit rate and 94th percentile for Outs Above Average. The only other MLB player in the 90th percentile or better in both categories is the Astros' Kyle Tucker.
July 21: Marlins 3, Nationals 1 (10 innings) -- Harrison keeps running
Josh Harrison extended his run-scoring stretch to four games, scoring on Andrew Stevenson's double in the fourth inning. In doing so, Harrison tied his longest runs scored streak dating to July 23-27, 2018.
July 20: Nationals 6, Marlins 3 -- Bell reaches century mark
Josh Bell went yard in the eighth inning for his 100th career home run, and his second in as many days. It was also Bell's third pinch-hit HR, his last coming on July 30, 2017, in San Diego while he was with the Pirates. Before Bell, the last Nats player to notch his 100th homer was Yan Gomes on Aug. 21, 2020.
July 19: Nationals 18, Marlins 1 -- Aging like wine
With a two-run blast against the Marlins, Jon Lester became the oldest pitcher to hit a home run since Bartolo Colon on May 7, 2016. Said Lester, "It's pretty special. I try not to go up there and screw up, is really all I'm trying to do. To be second behind Bartolo is pretty cool. Hopefully, somebody comes along and takes that title from him or from me. That would be nice to move my name down on that list."
July 18: Nationals 8, Padres 7 (Game 2) -- Escobar's homer
Alcides Escobar hit his first Major League home run since Aug. 11, 2018, when he sent a solo blast out of Nationals Park to start an eighth-inning rally. He had played in the Minors and in Japan in the years between his big league homers.
July 16: Padres 24, Nationals 8 -- Soto finds his HR stroke
Juan Soto hoped the Home Run Derby could help him find his swing for the second half of the season. In the first game back from the All-Star break, Soto crushed a pair of home runs for his second multi-homer game of 2021 and the ninth of his career.
July 11: Giants 3, Nationals 1 -- Castro extends streak
Starlin Castro extended his hitting streak to 14 games in the Nationals' loss to the Giants on Sunday, matching the longest such streak of his career.
July 10: Giants 10, Nationals 4 -- Harper eats innings
Ryne Harper pitched 2 1/3 scoreless innings in relief, the second-longest outing of his career. The longest outing of Harper's career came in 2019 with the Twins, throwing 3 1/3 scoreless innings.
July 9: Giants 5, Nationals 3 -- Milestones galore for Barrera
Tres Barrera, who came off the bench after Yan Gomes exited with a left oblique injury, recorded a slew of firsts: extra-base hit, RBI, run scored and multihit game. Barrera's triple was also the catcher's first three-bagger since 2017 with Low-A Hagerstown.
July 8: Padres 9, Nationals 8 -- Turner’s power surge
Trea Turner's pair of dingers against the Padres marked the eighth multihomer game of his career, and already his third this season. The last time he blasted more than one homer in a single game was April 27 at the Blue Jays.
July 7: Nationals 15, Padres 5 -- Soto masters opposite field
With an oppo shot at Petco Park, Juan Soto has hit nine opposite-field homers since the beginning of the 2020 season. The only left-handed hitter with more during that time is teammate Kyle Schwarber, who has 11.
July 6: Padres 7, Nationals 4 -- Soto homers in 20th ballpark
With a solo home run to left-center field at Petco Park in San Diego, Juan Soto homered in his 20th Major League stadium. Of all opposing parks, he has homered the most times at Citizens Bank Park (11) followed by Citi Field (8) and Truist Park (7).
July 5: Nationals 7, Padres 5 -- Lester's first RBI since 2019
With a single that dropped into center field in the second inning, Jon Lester drove in his first run since Sept. 8, 2019, against the Brewers as a member of the Cubs. The left-hander has tallied 29 RBIs over his 16-year career.
July 4: Dodgers 5, Nationals 1 -- Ross boosts velo
Joe Ross took the mound for Washington on the Fourth of July in his 16th start of the season. From the first inning, his stuff looked like some of the best he's tossed all season, with his sinker clocking in at 97.2 mph. The last time Ross tossed a pitch that hard was May 31, 2016, against the Phillies, when he reached a career-high pitch speed of 98.2 mph.
July 3: Dodgers 5, Nationals 3 -- Soto's on-base streak hits 20
Juan Soto worked a four-pitch walk off Clayton Kershaw in the bottom of the fourth inning of Saturday's game. That extended his on-base streak to 20 games, the third longest of his career -- behind two 21-game streaks.
July 2: Dodgers 10, Nationals 5 -- Scherzer goes deep, limits runs
Max Scherzer made his 186th regular-season career start with the Nationals on Friday against the Dodgers. With a pitching line of six innings, four hits, one run, one walk and eight strikeouts, Scherzer has tossed at least six frames and allowed one earned run or fewer in 41 percent of his starts for Washington.
July 1: Dodgers 6, Nationals 2 (5 innings) -- Avila plays 2B
With Nationals infielders dinged up, manager Dave Martinez started veteran catcher Alex Avila at second base for the first time in his 13-year career. Among Modern Era players, only Brad Ausmus (1,808 games) had caught more games than Avila (924 games) before making his first start at second.