Three key observations from Nationals' series win over D-backs

WASHINGTON -- The Nationals clinched their first series of the season with a 5-4 win over the D-backs on Sunday afternoon at Nationals Park. The Nats have won back-to-back games as they prepare to host the Dodgers on Monday.

The series victory against Arizona was Washington’s first since May 14-16, 2021, which happened on the road. The Nats had not won a home series vs. the D-backs since May 2-4, 2017.

“Awesome,” manager Dave Martinez said. “It’s the first [series win] of the year, so it feels good -- [against] a team that’s really, really good, by the way. They play the game the right way, so it’s good to come out with two wins against them.”

Here are three things from the weekend series.

Crews getting into rhythm at the plate

Dylan Crews recorded his first multi-hit game of the season. Crews, who did not get a hit until Friday, went 2-for-4 with a stolen base in the finale.

“It means a lot, for sure,” Crews said. “Good momentum going forward.”

Crews credited the Nationals' hitting coaches for helping him get in the best position early and being ready to hit fastballs.

“We’ve been on him about hitting the top half of the baseball and not getting underneath,” Martinez said. “A lot of times, he’s fouling balls off he thinks he should be hitting. One is timing, two is just getting under. Today was just about, stay in the middle of the field, get yourself ready early and be on time. He did that today.”

Young getting ‘reset’

Jacob Young was out of the lineup on Sunday for the second day in a row. The Gold Glove finalist center fielder is 1-for-15 (.067) to start the season. He hit a double on March 30 against the Phillies.

“We're just doing a reset on him,” Martinez said. “He's a little frustrated with how he's swinging. We saw some things that we want to address and he's been working the last two days on his swing.”

Martinez began to notice a change in Young’s approach toward the end of Spring Training.

“He's diving to home plate,” Martinez said. “He's not seeing the ball away from him. He's not catching up to the ball inside.”

With near-elite sprint speed (29.1 feet per second), the Nationals rely on Young to move runners and make an impact on the basepaths.

“The thing about Jacob is that he understands he has to be short,” Martinez said. “We're not looking for him to hit home runs. We're looking for him to just put the ball in play, hit the ball hard, play the game the right way. He's a situational guy.”

The Nats are utilizing their outfield depth while Young resets. They shifted starting right fielder Crews to center, and Alex Call to play right field off the bench.

“His defense is really important to us,” Martinez said of Young. “As I told him, he's our center fielder. He'll be back out there. But before it becomes a real big problem, we want to fix it. Hopefully, he gets back out there and he starts hitting the ball the way we know he can.”

The Nationals signed Josh Bell this offseason to add a lead-by-example veteran presence. The 6-foot-3, 261-pound Bell hustled to stretch a triple to left field off lefty Eduardo Rodriguez on Saturday. Bell slid into third base headfirst and outstretched his arms in celebration of the 20th triple in his 10-year career.

“He runs the bases hard,” Martinez said. “For me, that’s the reason why he was able to make it to third. He came out of the box -- as he always does -- hard to make a turn at first. The ball got by [Lourdes Gurriel Jr.], and it set himself up to make it to third base.”

Bell had been averaging a sprint speed of 22.4 feet per second this season. As he dashed to third base, he tracked a sprint speed of 25.7 feet per second.

“He's a professional,” Martinez said. “That's why I love him so much, is that he plays the game the right way. No matter what, he runs, he runs hard. He gets the most out of his ability. And for a big man, he's very agile.”

By advancing to third, Bell was able to score on Call’s line-drive RBI single to right field. That run ended up being the difference-maker in the Nationals’ 4-3 win.

“We talk every day about the little things, how the little things could create big things,” Martinez said. “Josh doing that, I hope it opened up some eyes to our young players that we’ve got to stay aggressive, we’ve got to be aggressive, and we’ve got to do little things right.”