{"id":5026,"date":"2026-07-27T07:09:22","date_gmt":"2026-07-27T07:09:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/?p=5026"},"modified":"2026-07-27T07:09:22","modified_gmt":"2026-07-27T07:09:22","slug":"nationals-wood-abrams-shine-in-crucial-win-over-diamondbacks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/?p=5026","title":{"rendered":"Nationals\u2019 Wood, Abrams shine in crucial win over Diamondbacks"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Nationals\u2019 blossoming stars James Wood and C.J. Abrams weren\u2019t in any rush to speak to the media about their four combined home runs in Sunday\u2019s 10-7 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Read more James and Harper were teenage sensations. Both signed in Philly. Can they win a title?<\/a><\/p>\n

They had to squeeze in a couple of games of chess \u2014 mot a misprint. Chess: Kings, pawns, knights.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Abrams eeked out a checkmate against center fielder Jacob Young, while Wood conceded a loss in his postgame match.<\/p>\n

The clubhouse\u2019s new favorite pastime has become a parallel for the players\u2019 offensive success.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cMe and C.J. were talking about it a little bit yesterday, just how what you\u2019re looking for might change,\u201d Wood said of the similarities between his approach on the board and at the plate. \u201cAnd the cat-and-mouse aspect of it is similar to chess.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wood and Abrams won their cat-and-mouse games against Arizona\u2019s pitchers on Sunday. They each knocked two home runs, becoming the seventh duo in Nationals history to manage the feat.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It\u2019s part\u00a0of\u00a0a broader, friendly competition between the two young talents. They\u2019re racing each other for the home run lead, both ranking in the top five in the National League.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Abrams struck first on Sunday, knocking a solo home run into left-center field off of a two-strike fastball below the strike zone. The deep fly tied the game in the bottom of the third.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The shortstop later told his manager that he wasn\u2019t sure how he managed to power the hard-to-hit pitch over the wall.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just kind of getting through it, being able to stay through balls, not coming off,\u201d Abrams said. \u201cBeing able to stay on those off-speed pitches through the other way is a good sign.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Abrams\u2019 first homer of the game was his 26th of the season, a record for a Nationals shortstop.<\/p>\n

Wood, who leads the team in home runs this season, wasn\u2019t going to let his teammate gain on him in their friendly competition.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI was messing with him after he hit the first one. Like, \u2018slow down,\u2019\u201d Wood said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The hard-hitting outfielder responded with a two-run home run in the fifth that tied the game at 4. But Abrams followed up with a two-run shot of his own.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\u201cI had one and he hit another one,\u201d Wood said. \u201cSo I was like, \u2018Dang. Alright.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Wood matched his teammate with his second home run of the day in the bottom of the eighth, giving Washington a sizeable 10-5 lead in the back-and-forth game.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The second homer was his 30th of the season, as Washington\u2019s All-Star outfielder became the second player in franchise history to amass 30 home runs in back-to-back seasons. Adam Dunn was the first during the 2009 and 2010 campaigns.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Nationals bullpen clung to the lead, securing the win despite allowing three runs in the final two innings. After the game, Nationals manager Blake Butera started to run out of praise for his shining stars.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cBoth of those guys, to be able to do what they\u2019ve done just day-in and day-out since the start of the year, how much they\u2019ve carried this group offensively, not taking a day off and getting after it every single day,\u201d the first-year manager said. \u201cHuge tip of the cap to those guys.\u201d<\/p>\n

The other players in Washington\u2019s clubhouse don\u2019t take Wood and Abrams for granted. It\u2019d be hard to do, they explained, when you\u2019re watching them from the basepaths and the on-deck circle.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Third baseman Brady House had been watching from afar while he worked on his game over the last two months in Triple-A. Sunday was his first game back in the majors since May.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just totally different in-person,\u201d said House, who hit two doubles with an RBI and two runs behind Abrams in the order. \u201cLike, I\u2019ve got a front-row seat to it; it\u2019s pretty awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n

The offensive outbursts for Abrams and Wood aren\u2019t empty calories, either. They\u2019ve provided essential run support for a 54-52 club that leads the league in runs, despite struggling with consistency on the mound.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sunday\u2019s win gave Washington a series win over Arizona. The Nationals now trail the Diamondbacks by just one game in the NL wild-card race with two months remaining in the season.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Washington\u2019s soft-spoken, chess-playing All-Stars have been largely responsible for the Nationals\u2019 continued contention.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThey believe in one another,\u201d Butera said of the players on the roster. \u201cNo one feels like they need to be the guy. When you have that mentality, it takes some pressure off of yourself and off the others around you. You just feel like it you pass it back and the next guy\u2019s going to get the job done.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Nationals continue their homestand on Monday, as they open a three-game series against the Toronto Blue Jays. Pitcher Max Scherzer, who spent seven seasons in Washington, is expected to take the mound for Toronto to open the series.<\/p>\n

Read more Suspect in Berlin Pride stabbing spree killed by police<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nationals’ All-Stars James Wood and C.J. Abrams each hit two home runs on Sunday to give Washington a 10-7 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks as the young club tries to surge into a playoff spot.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5025,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[373,142],"tags":[2810,2306,1393,758],"class_list":["post-5026","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-baseball","category-sports","tag-arizona-diamondbacks","tag-c-j-abrams","tag-james-wood","tag-washington-nationals"],"yoast_head":"\nNationals\u2019 Wood, Abrams shine in crucial win over Diamondbacks - Home Buyer Relocation<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/?p=5026\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Nationals\u2019 Wood, Abrams shine in crucial win over Diamondbacks - Home Buyer Relocation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Nationals' All-Stars James Wood and C.J. 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