Trea Turner cycled, Jordy Mercer and Starlin Castro went yard, and the Nationals got timely hitting from Josh Bell in the 15-6 win over the Tampa Bay Rays on Wednesday to cap the team’s best month of the season.
The performance in June is eerily similar to what happened in June 2019, the year the Nationals won the World Series, when the team went 18-8 in the month of June to turn around a rocky start.
Fast forward two years and after a similarly rough start to the season, Washington went 19-9 in the same month.
Turner said, even though there are players from the World Series team on this year’s roster, it’s important to separate the two seasons.
He credited the June performance to the team members getting to know each other, both on and off the field.
“For me, I think we’ve just kind of come together as a team and that chemistry builds over the course of a season,” Turner said Wednesday. “Over the course of the season we seem to build chemistry here and that’s kind of our thing I guess.”
Through the first two months of the season, the Nationals were 21-29 in last place in the NL East, seven games behind the New York Mets. After the hot month, Washington went into Thursday two games above .500, second in the division and only two games behind the Mets.
“We always say we have the talent in the room, we should have been playing better from the start,” Turner said. “We just got off to a rough start, but now we’re playing baseball like we know we can.”
What sparked the team’s turnaround this season? Kyle Schwarber’s tear at the plate.
“Kyle hit a homer every day, so that helped us win a few more ball games,” Turner joked.
Schwarber unleashed on the month as if it was a home run derby. The Middletown, Ohio, native mashed 16 long balls and hit .280 with a 1.122 OPS in June.
It wasn’t only Schwarber who was red-hot, but the Nationals lineup as a whole produced more. In June, the team averaged 4.5 RBIs a game, up from 3.6 RBIs in April and May combined. The team also combined to hit 49 home runs in the first two months, while adding 40 more in June.
Washington’s pitching also found its rhythm last month, including two shutouts. As a staff, the Nationals’ pitching allowed an average of 3.1 earned runs a game, down from four in the first two months of the season combined. They also walked fewer batters, dropping from 3.4 walks in April and May to 2.7 a game in June
Paolo Espino became the Nationals’ swiss army knife on the pitching staff in June, earning his first career win and save. The 34-year-old right-hander logged a 1.74 ERA in the month, appearing in nine games and starting two of them.
Nationals manager Dave Martinez said he hopes the good pitching and doing the little things will continue into July.
“For me the three consistencies we need to do: play good defense, pitching and the baserunning,” Martinez said. “We continue to do that … we’ll score some runs and our pitching will keep us in the game.”
The Nationals won’t have an easy start to the month. Washington kicked off a series at home Thursday against the Los Angeles Dodgers before traveling to play the San Diego Padres and NL West-leading San Francisco Giants before the All-Star break.
“They’re playing well and we’re going to continue doing the little things and playing the way we’re supposed to be playing,” Martinez said.
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