Washington Nationals 2025 Season

THE LEAD

Fans had cause for concern entering the final game of this first series against the Phillies. Not only had the bullpen imploded in spectacular fashion not once but twice, but Mitchell Parker had faded down the stretch last season and got knocked around in his one start against the Phillies in 2024. Yesterday, however, he bent but did not break, allowing multiple base runners in each of the first three innings yet keeping a clean sheet into the seventh. Jose A. Ferrer and Jorge López kept the zeroes rolling for two more innings, but Brad Lord allowed all three batters he faced in his debut appearance to reach before Kyle Finnegan cleaned up the mess for a 5-1 Nats win.

Parker’s strong start (he allowed seven hits and walked two against five strikeouts in his six and a third) was the third in a row by one of the Nats’ younger, less experienced starters; this evening Michael Soroka will try to follow up that act in his native country (albeit almost 1700 miles to the east of his hometown of Calgary, Alberta).

 Washington Nationals 2025 Season

Game Recap

While Parker danced in and out of trouble those first three innings (and then retired nine Phillies in a row in the middle innings), he got some offense courtesy of Josh Bell and Nathaniel Lowe, each of whom took Phillies starter Aaron Nola deep on the unseasonably warm Sunday afternoon. Bell opened the scoring with a two-out, three-run shot in the fourth - Nola was on the verge of getting out of the inning completely unscathed before clipping Keibert Ruiz on the toe with a pitch (this time he didn’t offer at it). Lowe barreled a tailing fastball that stayed over the plate onto the batter’s eye in deep left-center for his second bomb in as many days, sending Nola to the showers in the sixth.

The 5-1 win is the Nationals’ first of the season, and now they go to the Rogers Centre for the first time in two years. Michael Soroka will get the ball this evening, with Trevor Williams and MacKenzie Gore to follow in the series.

Check out our Game Notes for an in-depth look at each Washington Nationals baseball game this season. 

 Washington Nationals Anaylsis

In the Year of our Lord 2025…

Although he failed to record an out in trying to close the last inning of the series, Brad Lord completed the step of actually pitching in the majors yesterday afternoon. The results weren’t great but there is a successful back-end MLB starter in there - hopefully with the debut nerves out of the way (remember, a year ago this time he was a Wilmington Blue Rock, and three years ago he was a nondescript pitcher at the University of South Florida) he can settle in and provide some solid relief innings. Pay particular attention tomorrow when Trevor Williams takes the mound - Davey rarely lets Williams finish the sixth, and Lord was putatively put on the roster to be a long man.

If he’s going to be in the majors, Lord will need to contribute quickly - the bullpen meltdowns on Thursday and Saturday were alarming in their scope (although why Davey tried to squeeze almost fifty pitches out of Lord’s fellow rookie Orlando Ribalta on Saturday, I don’t know - letting a guy wear it in his fifth major league appearance is a choice).

 theFUTURE

Rochester Red Wings Weekend Recap

The Rochester Red Wings started the 2025 season with a three-game series in Buffalo. The Red Wings lost six to two on Friday and came back with a decisive eight to three win on Saturday that was called with one out in the bottom of the 8th when the rain started and lasted all through the evening. Sunday's series finale was postponed due to rain and wet grounds. Sunday's rainout will be made up on Wednesday, April 23, as part of a doubleheader. Both games will be seven innings in length.

On Friday, Andrew Alvarez was selected to start the season opener. He pitched five innings, giving up only one unearned run and surrendering only two hits, two walks, and fanning six Bison batters. When Alvarez left the game after pitching five stellar innings, the Red Wings led two to one. Stone Garrett singled in the go-ahead run in the fourth inning to give the Red Wings the temporary lead. Alvarez was named Red Wing Player of the Game. The bullpen could not hold on to the lead, giving up four runs in the bottom of the sixth.

On Saturday, Rochester came out on fire! Rob Hassell III started the game off with a line drive single up the middle, and Brady House followed, recording his first hit of the season with an infield single. The Red Wings loaded the bases with two outs and then scored five runs, extending the inning and sending 10 batters to the plate. Four Red Wings had a multiple-hit game. Hassell, Brady House, and Nasim Nuñez all had two hits, and Nuñez also had two RBIs. Lipscomb led the team with three hits and two RBIs, too. Andry Lara made his AAA debut, giving up a two-run homer to Addison Barger in the bottom of the first. Lara settled down and pitched four innings and gave up one more hit after Barger's home run. He gave way to Jackson Rutledge in the fifth inning, and Rutledge was unhittable. He pitched two scoreless innings, facing a total of seven batters, striking out four of them and giving up no hits. Lipscomb, because of his three hits, was named Red Wing Player of the Game.

The starting pitching was excellent in the two games. The bullpen stumbled in the first game but only gave up one run in four innings of work during Saturday's game. Rochester showed a lot of spirit on Saturday, coming out so strong in the first inning after a tough loss to open the season.

The team has returned to Rochester to enjoy the regular Monday off before the home opener against the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs (Phillies) at 4 o'clock on Tuesday afternoon.

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 WHAT WE THINK THE NATIONALS FRONT OFFICE IS READING

Speed Reads

📌 There’s No Easy Way to Fix Major League Baseball’s Wealth Gap (Bloomberg)

📌 Nine home runs for the Yankees lead to questions about their new bats (NPR)

📌 Why ‘torpedo bats’ have players across the league intrigued after Yankees’ power surge (The Athletic)