'The boys battled': Nats wrap tough June with extras win over Angels

ANAHEIM -- At long last, the month of June has come to an end for the Nationals.

Luckily for Washington, it ended on a positive note, as the Nationals beat the Angels 7-4 in 11 innings on Sunday to secure a series win. It was the first series win for the Nats since taking two of three games against the D-backs from May 30-June 1.

For most of the middle innings, the Angels and Nats alternated through various score changes, with the Angels taking a 4-3 lead into the ninth inning. Jacob Young’s RBI single in the ninth against Kenley Jansen helped send the game to extras before Drew Millas delivered a go-ahead, game-winning RBI single in the 11th. It was Millas’ first hit of the season.

When CJ Abrams tripled home two runs two batters later, it put the finishing touches on a much-needed win for the Nationals.

“We played hard. I give credit to our boys the whole game,” said manager Dave Martinez, who was ejected for the first time this season in the fifth inning after arguing a challenge call at home plate. “The boys battled. I loved the energy, especially late in the game.”

Along the way, young phenom James Wood was intentionally walked four times. The last time a player was intentionally walked four times in a game was some guy named Barry Bonds, who pulled off the feat four times during the 2004 season. Wood became the first Nationals/Expos player to be intentionally walked that many times in a game.

“That’s pretty cool,” said Wood. “If you’re being put in the same sentence as him, then that’s pretty cool.”

Since intentional walks started being officially tracked in 1955, the 22-year-old Wood is just the sixth player to be intentionally walked that many times in a game.

“It stinks because I like to watch him hit, but it’s pretty crazy that they’re already taking those measures against him,” said Young. “He’s carried our offense for a lot of the year and it’s special when he’s up there.”

To say the Nationals needed a win on Sunday would be an understatement. Even with the win, the Nationals, who are off on Monday, ended the month with a 7-19 record, giving Washington the worst record of any team in the Majors in June. Those 19 losses were tied for the 10th-most in a single month in franchise history and hadn’t been done since the Nationals lost 19 games in July 2022.

The only other teams with more losses in a month this season are the Rockies (April and May), Athletics (May) and the White Sox (April).

“To win a game like this on the last day of a long road trip, away from home, guys away from their family,” said Kyle Finnegan, who threw a career-high three innings and secured the win in the 11th inning. “To grind one out in extra innings, it’s good for our morale heading into the off-day.”

Suffice it to say, things unraveled quickly for a Nationals club that entered June with a 28-30 record that had Washington in third place in the NL East. Even with the underlying metrics suggesting the Nats were lucky to be hovering around .500 -- they were outscored by 35 runs through the end of May -- the first two months had to be viewed as a success.

After winning the final four games in May and going 2-3 in their first five games in June, the Nationals lost 11 games in a row from June 7-18. It was Washington’s longest streak since losing 12 in a row in 2008 and tied for the fourth-most in franchise history (Expos included). That skid is tied with the A’s for the longest losing streak in the Majors this season.

Things didn’t get a whole lot better after the losing streak ended on June 19. The Nats went 5-5 in their next 10 games and failed to win consecutive games during that stretch. In fact, the Nationals haven’t won consecutive games since their four-game winning streak to end the month of May.

Any time a team goes into a prolonged slump like this, there are going to be multiple factors behind it. It was no different for the Nationals in June. The club scored just 102 runs this month, the fourth-fewest of any team. It wasn’t much better on the pitching front, with a 4.93 ERA that was worse than every team besides the Twins and Rockies.

With a strong team win on Sunday, the Nationals will need to keep it going as they’ll head home to face the Tigers on Tuesday. Detroit entered Sunday tied with the Dodgers for the best record in baseball (52-32).