'I dreamed of it': House mashes 1st big league HR, with 2nd close behind

MILWAUKEE -- While Brady House has been showing off his fielding prowess at third base this season since he was called up to the Nationals, he's also been looking for a breakout game at the plate.

That came for the 22-year-old rookie on Saturday in the Nationals’ 6-5 walk-off loss, when House belted the first two home runs of his career. The second -- a two-out, two-run blast in the eighth -- put the Nationals in front 4-3. Washington added another run in the ninth before the Brewers rallied with three runs in their half of the frame to come away with the victory.

The heartbreaking loss didn’t diminish House’s offensive outburst. The Nationals' No. 3 prospect (No. 82 overall per MLB Pipeline) belted his first career home run, a 427-foot solo shot off Brewers starter Brandon Woodruff with two outs in the fourth, to give the Nationals a 2-0 advantage. His eighth-inning round-tripper came off reliever Abner Uribe (2-2).

Fellow rookie Daylen Lile (Nats' No. 9 prospect) also belted a two-out solo homer off Woodruff in the second to stake the Nationals to an early lead.

Prior to Saturday’s contest, interim manager Miguel Cairo spoke of House’s performance in the field.

“He’s special. He can play defense and you can see that,” Cairo said. “He’s an elite third baseman.”

House has hit for power before, tallying 13 home runs in 65 games at Triple-A Rochester, but he had been working to find his stroke in the Majors after being promoted on June 16. He became the first Nationals player to hit his first two career homers in the same game since Tyler Moore on June 13, 2012.

“He’s very young. Everyone is going to go through a learning history and how pitchers are going to pitch you,” Cairo said. “The most important thing is to make sure you hit in the strike zone.”

House showed the ability to go deep against Woodruff, the Brewers' onetime ace who missed all of last season while recovering from right shoulder surgery before working his way back into the rotation this season.

“Whenever there’s a runner on, I’m just trying to get him over and get him in," House said. "It just ended up being a home run.

“I quickly realized after the first at-bat [a strikeout] that I wasn’t where I needed to be, so I made some adjustments mid-game and I just tried to catch [the pitch] out front and put it in the outfield somewhere."

Admittedly, House’s memory of the biggest moment of his career to this point is a bit fuzzy.

“It’s hard, because whenever I go up to bat, it’s almost like a blackout,” House said. “Whenever I get back to the dugout, I don’t remember much.”

House did, however, remember a bit about his trip around the bases.

“I dreamed of it growing up,” he said.

As for the celebration in the dugout, there wasn’t any silent treatment from his teammates -- as is sometimes the case when a player hits his first homer.

“It was awesome,” House said.

After the game, House met the family of the Brewers fan who caught his first home run and delivered the ball to him.

“I’m very appreciative that they took the time to come down and hang out for a little,” House said. “I told them that it was something that I would remember forever, because I will.”

Cairo had praise for House and Lile.

“It’s good that he’s now getting into the rhythm of hitting,” Cairo said of House. “He can play defense, there’s no question about it, but it was nice to see that he was hitting.”

Cairo said Lile has had many good at-bats since being recalled from Triple-A Rochester on June 16.

“Since he came back from Triple-A, he’s been one of the guys who’s been making adjustments at the big league level,” Cairo said. “The young players are learning. That’s the future of the organization. It’s nice to see. What I love, in this atmosphere playing against that team and with 30,000 people there, you want to experience that.”

Shinnosuke Ogasawara also made his second Major League start after making his debut on July 2 against the Red Sox, when he gave up seven hits and four runs in 2 2/3 innings.

The 27-year-old rookie cruised through three innings, giving up just one hit and facing the minimum, but he ran into trouble in the fourth, giving up three runs.

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Ogasawara gave up four hits and three runs in four innings. He walked one and struck out two while throwing 56 pitches.

The Brewers tagged closer Kyle Finnegan for three runs in the ninth and won it on Caleb Durbin’s walk-off hit.

“It’s tough because it was a great game,” Finnegan said. “We stuck with them the whole way and we got a big swing to get ahead. I came in and wasn’t able to do my job.”