Photo by Marlene Koenig for TalkNats
For everything that has gone wrong for the Nationals this season, a few things have gone right, and that is a credit to several players who are putting up some monster numbers on the season. For the first time in his career, Bryce Harper has reached the 100 RBI mark in a season, and Juan Soto hit his 21st home run on the season giving him 66 RBIs on the season which is the 4th most ever in a season for a teenager, and that moved Soto past the legend Mickey Mantle. Soto now only trails Phil Cavarretta (82), Mel Ott (77), and George Davis (73) on that list. Other players with significant accomplishments tonight were Anthony Rendon who hit his 24th home run which pushed him over the .900 OPS mark while also setting a career high in doubles, and Trea Turner had another multi-hit night which gave him a 12-game hitting streak and a 24-game on-base streak and his 101st run scored.
“It just goes to show how good the guys in front of me are,” Harper said. “Getting on base all the time and really grinding to produce runs and things like that. Just a testament to how good this team is and how good are table-setters are at the top.”
With this win tonight, the Nationals moved into a tie for 2nd Place, and if the Rockies finish off the Phillies — the Nationals will have sole possession of 2nd Place. This game was not pretty in the rain, but the Nats offense took care of business in this 7-3 win.
“Our offense has been pretty good,” manager Dave Martinez said. “It really has. If we can keep these guys healthy for 2019, it could be really good.”
Stephen Strasburg had some very long innings and was pulled after the 4th inning in the game giving up only 1 run. The bullpen took care of the rest of the game.
With Soto’s 21st home run of the season, he is now just 1 homer from tying his teammate Bryce Harper who hit 22 home runs as a teenager in 2012, and if Soto gets the power stroke really going, he can close in on Tony Conigliaro who holds the teenage record with 24 home runs in 1964.
