PHILADELPHIA – On Wednesday night, it took 11 innings and a pinch-hit appearance from Thursday’s starting pitcher (yes, you read that correctly) for the Nationals to snap a seven-game losing skid.
“We’re not losing hope by any means,” said manager Blake Butera. “We’re going to have to grind out some games, like we did tonight. But at the end of the day, we’ll do whatever it takes to find wins.”
Emphasizing togetherness all season, the Nationals broke a frustrating losing streak their way — as one.
“We never give up,” said starting pitcher Jake Irvin, who delivered an impassioned postgame speech to the team. “No matter what, we’re going to stay in the fight. No matter what the last week has looked like, what the future looks like, stay in the moment and take care of business when you have to.”
Searching for their first win since July 28, the Nationals swapped runs with the Phillies in the 10th inning to take a 3-3 tie into the 11th.
With automatic runner Brady House on second base, Jacob Young drew a walk against Caleb Kilian. CJ Abrams rocked a Statcast-projected 407-foot deep fly ball, which just missed sailing over the center-field wall. Instead, his go-ahead triple drove in two runs to take a 6-4 lead.
“That’s CJ,” said Butera. “He’s been a leader for us. He’s performed unbelievably well all year long. We needed him to step up there, and that’s what really good players do.”
Between in-game substitutions with pinch-hitters and pinch-runners, the Nationals knew they could run out of position players to hit. It is a scenario they had prepared for, and Butera had just the pitcher in mind.
On the eve of reaching 10 years of Major League service time, Mikolas was asked to take his first at-bat since 2021. The 11-year veteran embraced the moment.
“He’s always itching to get out there,” said Butera. “He reminds me every chance he can that he has two career home runs.”
Mikolas grabbed Jacob Young’s bat and the helmet of Andrew Pinckney (who was making his Major League debut). Mikolas, who has a career .127 batting average, had just enough time to get down six bunts in the batting cage.
“I don’t think I’ve seen somebody put on a pair of cleats as fast as he did,” said Butera.
Seeing a 95.7 mph fastball inside, Mikolas successfully laid down a squeeze bunt to drive in Abrams from third base.
“I was excited,” said Mikolas. “All baseball players are excited to get in the game any way they can. It brought me back to my days of getting down bunts at Busch Stadium.”
Mikolas’ versatile heroics came nearly five years to the day since the last Nationals pitcher recorded an RBI. On Aug. 6, 2021, Erick Fedde drove in a run against the Braves.
“I felt like a kid again,” Irvin said of watching Mikolas. “It’s like when you bring the 20th man off the bench getting his at-bat in a Senior Night type thing. So special.”
The victory came at a pivotal time for the Nationals (56-60), who went from vying for a National League Wild Card spot to trying to find their footing in the standings.
“Resiliency has been the big word this year,” Butera said. “These guys have been dealt some tough stretches; some really tough games, of course; some brutal losses — some of the hardest ones I’ve been a part of. They keep chipping away and they keep putting their heads down and trying to find ways to get through it and make the next day better, and that’s all we can ask.”
As much as they appreciate the next-man-up approach, the Nationals do not plan on having Mikolas pull double duty and DH in Thursday’s start.
“You know, we’ve got a lot better hitters on this team than me,” Mikolas said with a grin. “So in the effort of us scoring more runs, I’d much rather have somebody hit for me.”
