James Wood has played less than a full season in the major leagues, but he has already shown he can hit the ball hard and far.
Wood belted his second tape-measure home run in as many nights as the Washington Nationals defeated the host Seattle Mariners 9-0 Wednesday.
He will try to make it 3-for-3 when the interleague series concludes Thursday night.
Wood socked a 435-foot solo blast off the facade of the Hit It Here Cafe in right field in the fifth inning on Wednesday, then delivered a two-run double in the eighth.
The homer had an exit velocity of 113.3 mph. It was his fifth time going deep at 112 mph or higher, tying Kyle Schwarber (2021) for the most in a single season in franchise history since Statcast began its tracking in 2015.
“He’s incredible,” Nationals designated hitter Josh Bell said. “It’s not surprising. It seems like it doesn’t matter the field, doesn’t matter the pitch, he’s locked in. And if you make mistakes over the heart of the plate and he gets extended, no ballpark can hold him.”
Not even T-Mobile Park, which is known to limit hitters because of its marine layer.
Wood’s career-best 448-footer off the batter’s eye in straightaway center field Tuesday was the longest hit at Seattle’s ballpark this season, surpassing a 444-foot shot by the New York Yankees’ Aaron Judge on May 14.
“I love the way he hits,” Washington manager Dave Martinez said. “Whether it’s this ballpark or any ballpark, he’s a really good hitter. … I’ve seen him hit a lot of balls really far and really hard.”
Bell, Luis Garcia Jr. and Robert Hassell III also went deep for the Nationals on Wednesday to back Trevor Williams’ six shutout innings. It was Hassell’s first homer after making his major league debut last week.
Martinez praised his team for bouncing back from a 9-1 loss to the Mariners the previous night.
“If you do not try and do a whole lot and stay on the baseball, it allows them to be successful,” the skipper said. “It was a tough game (Tuesday), and we came back and played the game the right way.”
CJ Abrams, Wood and Hassell were among the prospects the Nationals acquired on Aug. 2, 2022, from the San Diego Padres in exchange for All-Star outfielder Juan Soto and Bell, who returned to D.C. as a free agent in January.
Another player Washington got in that deal was left-hander MacKenzie Gore (2-5, 3.47 ERA), who is set to start the series finale against Mariners right-hander Emerson Hancock (2-2, 5.95).
Gore took a tough-luck loss in his most recent start, especially considering the game was scoreless when he exited after issuing a leadoff walk in the seventh inning on Friday. He wound up charged with one run on two hits in what became a 4-0 defeat to the San Francisco Giants.
The only time that Gore has faced the Mariners, he earned a win on May 24, 2024, after throwing seven innings of one-run ball and striking out eight.
Hancock, who has never opposed the Nationals, snapped a four-start winless streak when he prevailed at Houston on Friday. He limited the Astros to three runs on nine hits in six innings.
The Mariners have lost four of their past six games, but the Wednesday setback was Seattle’s most-lopsided of the season. The Mariners managed just five hits — all singles — and fell to 2-12 in games in which they fail to homer.
“Tough one tonight,” Seattle manager Dan Wilson said. “One to move on from.”
–Field Level Media
