The Nats swept the Reds on Sunday afternoon with a 7-1 win in the series finale. Al & Mark recap the unusual victory that was led by the bullpen for all 27 outs. Brad Lord pitched into the 3rd before handing the ball off to the recently acquired Will Dion. The pitching was good all weekend as Cincinnati only scored six combined runs in the three games.

(09:00) Trevor Williams recorded seven outs and has been impressive in his five appearances since being activated off of the IL.

(14:00) Andres Chaparro continued his hot stretch with a 2-run double to put this game out of reach in the bottom of the 8th. Abimelec Ortiz homered to give Washington the lead in the bottom of the 3rd.

(19:00) Keibert Ruiz had three hits on Sunday and his OPS this season sits at .762.

(25:00) There is a chance that the Nats could call up a AAA starter this week against the Cubs. The series begins on Tuesday and Chicago is currently in the top NL wildcard spot.

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The Nats topped the Reds 8-2 on Saturday night for their second straight win. Mark & Al begin with the offense getting to Chase Burns this time, unlike when they faced him three months ago. Washington tagged Burns with five runs and knocked him out during their rally in the bottom of the 6th.

(07:00) Andres Chaparro pinch-hit for DH Josh Tena with the bases loaded and delivered. Chaparro's 2-run double in the 6th made it 5-2 Nationals and he later added a RBI single in the bottom of the 8th. Blake Butera got the better of Reds Manager Terry Francona when he inserted Chaparro right after the call to the bullpen.

(15:00) Andrew Alvarez out-pitched Burns and took a shutout into the top of the 6th. Alvarez ran into trouble and was replaced by Max Kranik, who immediately saw Cincy tie the affair at two. Why didn't they leave Alvarez in the game to handle the jam himself?

(25:00) Yovanny Cruz impressed again as he tossed a scoreless top of the 7th. Cruz was part of the package that came from the Yankees for Luis Garcia Jr.

(28:00) The Nationals are 4.5 games behind the Philles for the final wildcard spot.

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The Nats opened the homestand with a 5-3 victory over the Reds on Friday night. Tim & Al begin by wondering if the team is still considered part of playoff contention as they trail the Phillies by 5.5 games for the final wildcard spot.

(06:00) Cade Cavalli struck out out eight Reds and pitched into the 7th inning. Cavalli is up to 141 strikeouts for the season and the question will be how many starts does he get down the stretch. He did struggle a bit though as he gave up seven hits and three of them were solo Cincinnati homers.

(12:00) Yovanny Cruz rescued Cavalli in the top of the 7th to keep the two run lead intact. Cruz, who came over as part of the Luis Garcia Jr. trade, has shown high velocity and a lot to like thus far.

(17:00) All of the offense came off of a pair of homers hit by Daylen Lile & Harry Ford. Lile has now moved back ahead of Jacob Young in the OPS department (.717 vs. .706).

(21:00) Tim points out an aspect to the Curtis Mead trade that has been bothering him during this pivotal stretch.

(25:00) Andrew Alvarez will take the mound on Saturday night vs. Chase Burns as Washington looks to lock up the weekend series.

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