Saturday delivered the Washington Nationals a split verdict. Hours after James Wood and CJ Abrams were named All-Stars — Wood’s second selection, as reported by the Washington Post — the team behind them managed almost nothing in a 7-1 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates at Nationals Park.
Wood held up his end. He went 1-for-2 with two walks and his 23rd home run, the only run Washington scored. His season line now reads .269 with a .931 OPS, 56 RBIs and 13 stolen bases — production that has made the 23-year-old the clearest evidence yet that the player-development plan is working. Abrams, by contrast, went 0-for-4, and the lineup around Wood managed six hits total. Daylen Lile had two of them and stole a base.
The game was functionally decided in the first inning. Opener Carson Palmquist was tagged for four runs on four hits in his lone inning of work, and against Braxton Ashcraft — who struck out seven over 5.2 strong innings — a four-run hole was too deep. Zack Littell deserves better than the box score gave him: six innings of one-run relief that kept the bullpen intact for the rest of the series, the kind of unglamorous outing that matters over a long season.
The loss dropped Washington to 46-44. That record still represents real progress — this team was supposed to be years away, and instead it spent the first half hovering above .500 in the wild-card conversation. The Washington Post reported this week that the front office intends to wait as long as possible before deciding whether to buy or sell ahead of the August 3 deadline, and stretches like this weekend are exactly why. The development curve says be patient; the standings keep whispering otherwise.
The series with Pittsburgh concludes Sunday afternoon.
