WASHINGTON -- With their catching depth already depleted by injuries, the Nationals will have to count on production from Spencer Kieboom as he shares some of the workload with Pedro Severino.
In Kieboom's first career start in the Nationals' 4-1 loss on Saturday in Game 1 of a doubleheader against the Dodgers, he collected his first Major League hit in the third inning, lining a single into left field against right-hander Thomas Stripling.
The crowd of 26,740 fans at Nationals Park applauded as the ball was tossed back to the Nats' dugout for Kieboom's keepsake to mark his career milestone. Kieboom, 27, drew a walk on Oct. 2, 2016, in his only other MLB plate appearance.
Kieboom had not seen any Major League action since. But once Matt Wieters landed on the disabled list with a left hamstring injury that required surgery, and with Raudy Read still serving an 80-game suspension, the Nats turned to Kieboom, who will look to make the most of his opportunity.
Kieboom earned some high praise after working with Nats starting pitcher Tanner Roark for the first time.
"Good, really good, actually," said Roark, who struck out eight over seven innings. "He's very vocal between innings. Usually, I just sit by myself and just stay focused. He's very vocal. I liked it. Just talking about what we're going to do with the first hitter and who we got coming up. That was his first time ever catching me, ever. I thought he did a pretty dang good job catching me. And he got his first knock."