WASHINGTON -- The heat and humidity on Thursday afternoon in Washington, D.C., only added to the pressure-cooker environment that had become Nationals Park over the past two weeks.
But with one swing, James Wood released the pent-up anxiety of Nats fans, players and staff alike.
With his first career walk-off home run, the phenom secured the Nationals’ 4-3 win in 11 innings and ensured Washington would hit the road on a high note, ending a skid that had reached 11 games.
“After I saw the ball bounce, I don’t remember a whole lot,” Wood said.
“That's probably the first of many,” said manager Dave Martinez, who was aptly emotional after the win. “I'm glad everybody got to see his first, but I'm hoping to see a lot more of those. … He's got a slow heartbeat, you know? He's one of the guys you want up there in those situations, and he came through today.”
To say Wood “came through” might be an understatement. Wood was the only National to record an RBI, his pair of home runs responsible for all four of Washington’s runs and for helping the club avoid what could have been its first sweep at the hands of Colorado since Aug. 18-20, 2009. It also would have matched the longest single-season losing streak (12 games from Aug. 8-20, 2008) in team history (since 2005).
“It was just a sigh of relief, really,” Wood said. “I mean, I feel like we’ve been playing hard, just things haven’t gone our way. So it felt good for things to switch up a little bit. … It feels good to get back in the win column.”
Of course, the win was still a team effort. Washington’s pitching staff held Colorado to two runs through 10 innings, and the Rockies stranded 10 batters. Martinez gave extra props to Cole Henry, who relieved starter Trevor Williams with one out in the sixth and runners at second and third. Henry struck out both batters he faced and got the Nats out of the jam, with the help of backstop Keibert Ruiz’s pitch calling.
That means a whole lot of nothing, though, without Wood's two big swings.
“We kept saying the whole game -- I said, ‘Somehow, somebody will win this game. We just, we got to have the right moment,’” Martinez said. “And what a moment. For the kid to come up there and lift us like that and really get us out of this funk -- that was awesome. These guys, they don't quit.”
The game didn’t necessarily start on the right foot for Wood, though. After CJ Abrams reached base on an error to open the bottom of the first, Wood lined out to right field -- and Abrams was caught in the crossfire as he had attempted to steal second on the same pitch.
They made the attempted hit-and-run count three innings later, though, when Abrams singled to lead off the frame before Wood launched his 19th homer of the year.
That first home run soared a Statcast-projected 403 feet to center field at 110 mph, marking Wood’s 10th home run with an exit velocity of at least 110 mph. At the time, it was the second-most home runs of at least 110 mph in a season in Nationals history, behind only Kyle Schwarber (11 in 2021). But that wasn’t enough for Wood, whose walk-off home run -- which clocked in at 110.2 mph -- tied him with Schwarber.
Wood’s 11 home runs of at least 110 mph are tied with the Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani for the most such long balls in MLB this year.
“He's my favorite player,” Williams said. “He has the long levers, he's got -- he hurts the baseball every night. It's like, it's almost become boring, that every game he's got something that exits, it feels like, [at] 130 miles an hour. … How young he is, the mature approach he has at the plate -- [it’s] special.”
At 22 years and 275 days old, Wood also became the youngest player in Nationals/Expos franchise history with a multi-homer game including a walk-off home run.
Wood -- who always expects to get a pitch to hit -- wasn’t surprised the Rockies pitched to him with two outs and a runner on third. His manager, however, was not only surprised, but also relieved.
“We thought for a minute they'll probably pitch around him,” Martinez said. “But you know, he was poised. He took the splitter. But as he always does, he's got that slow heartbeat. He got a good pitch to hit, and hit [it to] center field.”
“I'm looking forward to seeing him flourish at the big league level,” Williams said. “For him to do this in his first full year is insane. It's impressive. And I wouldn't be surprised if he becomes one of the faces of the MLB at some point by the end of this year.”