Crews finding stride again -- this time against an old collegiate foe

WASHINGTON -- Nationals outfielder and former LSU star Dylan Crews got the chance to face off against a familiar opposing pitcher in Wednesday’s series finale between the Nationals and the Braves at Nationals Park.

Atlanta starter and former Florida hurler Hurston Waldrep was cruising along with four scoreless innings and eight strikeouts, much like he has for his breakout rookie year.

But just like in Game 2 of the 2023 College World Series, Crews found a way to solve the right-hander.

Back in 2023, Crews collected a pair of singles, scored two runs and was hit by a pitch versus Waldrep in an eventual Gators 24-4 win. LSU ended up winning the Series in the decisive Game 3, 18-4.

"It's always good facing somebody before you get to face them in the big stage like this,” Crews said. “He looks really good right now, a lot different than when I saw him in the World Series, a lot more polished right now and commanding his pitches really well. Hats off to him. He did a really good job today."

This time in the big leagues, Crews -- the 2023 second overall pick -- drilled a line drive single to right field off Waldrep, the 24th overall selection that same year.

"The approach and plan going in there was really to get the ball up as much as you can,” Crews said of facing Waldrep. “His bread and butter is his splitter. He's going to go to that as much as he can. If you can eliminate that, it gets him into trouble."

Crews got a hold of a 93.9 mph cutter high in the zone to put the Nationals on the board.

The at-bat opened the door to a three-run fifth inning for the Nationals. He finished 2-for-4 with a single, double, two runs scored and an RBI in a 9-4 loss to Atlanta.

“It's pretty cool,” Waldrep said of facing Crews again in the pros. “I faced him a lot in college, at Southern Miss and at Florida, and then faced him in the [College] World Series, and then faced him here in the big leagues. He's had a lot of success, great guy and really great player.”

The hit was big for Crews, who has been struggling at the plate since his return in mid-August from the 60-day IL with a left oblique strain. He hit just .218 with 12 strikeouts in 55 at-bats in August, but has started to find a rhythm again in September, slashing .333/.391/.524 over his last seven games.

"He's been doing way better,” said interim manager Miguel Cairo. “He's getting confidence. He's a hard worker. You can see how he hustles in that double. He always playing the game hard and that's what you want from everyone in the team."

James Wood delivered an RBI double to the gap in right-center field to plate Robert Hassell III to make it 3-0. He later added a single, snapping his four-game hitless streak.

Right-hander Brad Lord returned to the consistency shown from April to mid-August by eluding trouble for 5 1/3 frames, allowing two runs on six hits with one walk and four strikeouts, on a career-high 102 pitches, 70 of which were for strikes.

"I was just trying to go as deep in the game as I could,” Lord said. “The bullpen has had a pretty high workload with the doubleheader [on Tuesday]. I was just trying to get as far into the game as I can to give those guys a break. Getting up to 100 pitches today, I needed to do that. [It is] a sense of accomplishment."

But with the four-game series sweep at the hands of the loss to the Braves, the Nationals have now lost 91 games in three straight seasons.

"[Losses] always sting,” Crews said. “It's never easy to lose. We want to win every single day, trust me. We want to go out there and win every single time we walk out on that field. We got to fix some things. We got to command the strike zone a lot better from both sides. When you do that a lot of good things happen."