Nationals host Athletics, seek to halt ’embarrassing’ slide

The Washington Nationals have been outscored 54-21 over their past four games and will try to end a six-game losing streak when they host the Athletics on Wednesday evening.

Washington will look for a boost from the return of right-hander Cade Cavalli, 26, who will make his first start since Aug. 26, 2022 — his only major league appearance.

The Nationals’ first-round draft pick in 2020 (22nd overall), Cavalli missed the entire 2023 season following Tommy John surgery and made just three minor league appearances in 2024. He has 17 outings this season, including 15 at Triple-A Rochester, where he has pitched to a 6.09 ERA with 72 strikeouts in 65 innings.

Cavalli will try to provide a quality start for a pitching staff that has been getting bullied of late.

“There’s no going back or feeling sorry for yourself,” Nationals interim manager Miguel Cairo said after Tuesday’s 16-7 loss to the A’s in an effort that looked even worse before Washington scored four in the ninth. “No, we’re going to keep working, and we’re going to get better.”

Cavalli will oppose A’s left-hander Jeffrey Springs (10-7, 4.00 ERA), who has allowed three earned runs or less in eight of his past nine starts. Most recently, he allowed one run on two hits over six innings in a 5-4 win against the Seattle Mariners last Wednesday.

“I think just continuing to try to make some adjustments on the delivery, get a little bit more carry, a little bit more life on the fastball, and I’ve seen some good results the last couple times out,” Springs said.

Meanwhile, teammate Shea Langeliers will try to continue his torrid stretch. He went 5-for-6 on Tuesday with three solo homers, a double and a single in his first career game in the leadoff spot. He homered leading off the game.

“To have him at the top and swinging a really good bat right now, it’s a chance to get us off to a quick start, hopefully,” A’s manager Mark Kotsay said before the game.

It was Langeliers’ second career three-homer game. He reached the 20-homer mark (22) for the third straight season and joined Cal Raleigh, Mike Piazza, Earl Williams and Rudy York as the only catchers to hit 20-plus homers in three of their first four seasons (playing a minimum of 50 percent of their games at catcher).

Langeliers has homered eight times over the last 10 games, batting .465 (20-for-43).

JJ Bleday had four hits for the A’s on Tuesday, including a home run, and drove in six runs, and Darell Hernaiz had two hits, including a homer. Brent Rooker added four hits and three RBIs.

For Washington, Luis Garcia, Jr. had three hits, and Nathaniel Lowe walked four times. All-Star MacKenzie Gore (4-12) continued his recent struggles, giving up eight runs on 12 hits in three-plus innings.

But he is far from the only National underperforming of late.

“We’re all better than this,” Gore said after the team fell to 0-4 on its homestand. “This is embarrassing. We’ve got to not let it affect everybody. We’ve got to be able to come together as a group and get better. What happened this homestand, it’s hard to watch.”

–Field Level Media