Nationals ride early homers and Zack Littell’s bounce-back to beat Diamondbacks 6-1

PHOENIX. The Nationals arrived at Chase Field for a Saturday afternoon matinee after Friday’s night game, and they wasted little time proving the turnaround was real. Washington jumped ahead 2-0 just two batters into the contest, then added more damage as the D-backs struggled to keep pace in the middle innings. The result was a 6-1 Nationals win over Arizona, capped by home runs from Curtis Mead and Dylan Crews and a quality start from Zack Littell.

Mead’s impact started early, and it started loud. On the second time through the lineup, he launched a Statcast-projected 411-foot homer at 104.3 mph off Eduardo Rodriguez, driving in James Wood and pushing the Nationals’ lead further before Arizona could fully settle in. Manager Blake Butera credited the instant start for setting the tone, saying it gave Washington momentum it could maintain through the day.

Littell benefited from that cushion, and the Nationals benefited from Littell’s execution once the game tilted. Per MLB’s recap, he threw a perfect game through three innings and kept the Diamondbacks hitless through four. After Arizona scored in the fifth, Littell’s early control was still the kind that turns a lead into a manageable workload and lets the bullpen do its job later.

The outing matched the larger theme Washington has been leaning on: offense that jumps on mistakes, and pitching that holds the line when the margin is established. According to the Associated Press report included in the game coverage, Littell finished five innings with one run allowed, did not surrender a hit until the fifth, and struck out four while walking one.

Crews provided the next exclamation point after the D-backs finally got to Littell again. MLB said Crews answered the fifth-inning run with his second homer of the season, a 432-foot drive at 108.6 mph to left-center on a first-pitch fastball. The Nationals’ staff also tied the hit to Crews’ overall season consistency, noting that spring optioning did not stop the power work, and that his response after a quiet Friday game stayed productive.

The home runs were only the latest chapter in a Nationals offense that, statistically, has looked different at various points of the year. MLB noted that from Opening Day through the end of May, Washington scored the most runs in baseball, totaling 324, before a rough first series of June against the Marlins that ended in a sweep and an 18-7 run deficit. After a Friday 14-run outburst, the Nationals backed it up on Saturday by continuing to hit in volume and in clusters.

The bigger storyline for Washington now is momentum, and it is showing up in the schedule picture. By winning the first two games of the Phoenix series, the Nationals extended their fourth consecutive road-series win, their longest such streak since May 2018, according to Elias Sports Bureau in the MLB recap. They will try to make it three straight on Sunday, with a series finale matchup featuring Washington’s Cade Cavalli against Arizona’s Michael Soroka.