​After a two-hour rain delay, the Washington Nationals nearly climbed back into the series opener against the New York Yankees on Friday night with a pair of seventh-inning runs, but three ninth-inning tallies by New York flipped the script and left Washington with a 5-3 defeat. The loss continued a puzzling trend for the Nationals, who have now surrendered four go-ahead home runs in the ninth inning over their last 16 games. James Wood supplied the night’s bright spot, finishing a triple shy of the cycle and going 3-for-5.
Carson Palmquist started as the opener for the Nationals for the third time, yielding one earned run and three hits with four strikeouts in three innings. Zack Littell followed for four frames, surrendering five hits and a home run—the latter being his MLB-leading 23rd—before Tom Cosgrove and Clayton Beeter combined to shut the door in the eighth. The trouble began early, as Palmquist’s lone run allowed gave the Yankees a lead just nine pitches into the game. Washington answered in the third when Wood started the rally with a double to center, Curtis Mead reached on a single to load the bases, and Dylan Crews drove in Wood, though the hit came via a double play that tied the game.
That goose egg didn’t stick for long, as Littell crushed the Nationals’ momentum with his 15th solo homer allowed, putting New York back in front by a run. Washington nearly tied it in the sixth, with CJ Abrams delivering a two-base hit to left and Jacob Young singling to put runners at the corners, but Abrams tripped circling third, and Daylen Lile and Jorbit Vivas, facing his former club, went down on strikes in consecutive at-bats to end the frame. The Nationals did rally in the seventh, though, delivering a decisive swing within a four-pitch sequence. After Luis Garcia Jr. started the inning with a groundout, Keibert Ruiz crushed a 371-foot homer to left to reclaim the lead, and Wood followed by launching the first pitch—an 89 mph sinker—419 feet to put Washington ahead 3-2 for the night’s first lead.
Washington flirted with adding a fourth run in the bottom of the eighth when a Yankee catcher’s wild throw allowed Daylen Lile to advance to third, but a Vivas pop-out ended the scoring chance. Matt Krook took over on the mound for his first save chance as a National, but Jazz Chisholm Jr. blasted a two-run shot to reclaim the lead for New York. Justin Lawrence then entered to close the inning, surrendering a solo homer to push the score to 5-3; Lawrence followed with consecutive walks after a single loaded the bases, but a groundout ended the threat and kept the deficit at two.
In sum, the Nationals’ late-game lapses in recent weeks finally caught up with them, as a steady late-firepower surge from the Yankees carried them to victory despite Washington’s early resilience. Wood’s multi-hit effort and Ruiz’s timely homer provided bright spots, but the late-inning breakdowns and bullpen misfires stung the home club in the end.