WASHINGTON -- During the Nationals 20th anniversary celebration weekend, the 2025 squad recorded a first in team history.
With two outs in the ninth inning on Saturday, catcher Riley Adams connected with shortstop CJ Abrams to throw out Diamondbacks center fielder Alek Thomas -- who was attempting to swipe second base -- and clinch a 4-3 victory.
It was their first win that ended with a caught-stealing in team history (2005-present), per Elias Sports Bureau.
¡°[Adams] came up firing,¡± said manager Dave Martinez. ¡°He made an unbelievable throw, his pop time was good, he threw it right on the base. Then the tag that CJ put on there was really quick, really firm. Both sides of the play were really good.¡±
The Nationals¡¯ lead had been cut to one run in the final frame. Closer Kyle Finnegan was looking to save the Nats¡¯ second win of the season, and Thomas had singled to put the tying run on base. Thomas ran on a first-pitch fastball to Geraldo Perdomo up in the zone.
Adams, who was making his first start of the season because Keibert Ruiz got the day off, was prepared. With a pop time of 1.87 seconds, he hurled the ball to Abrams at 85.3 mph.
¡°They¡¯re an aggressive team and they like to run and try to take advantage of stuff like that,¡± Adams said. ¡°You just have to be ready for that. I feel like I¡¯ve been putting a lot of work in with [catching coach] Henry [Blanco], helping me out a bunch, helping on transfers, working on throws. I know that¡¯s something that me personally, I know I needed to work on and get better at. So I¡¯m happy that I was able to show up in that role.¡±
Abrams reached up his left arm across his body to bring the ball down and swipe his glove at a sliding Thomas. After an official review, the game was over.
¡°We work on tags,¡± Abrams said. ¡°Just got to be quick and put it down.¡±
The Nationals watched in anticipation -- then reacted in excitement.
¡°I see the ball going through the air, and I¡¯m just like, ¡®C¡¯mon! C¡¯mon!¡¯¡± said right fielder Alex Call. ¡°[CJ] makes a smackdown tag and I see the out. ¡ I wanted to get the win, and if we didn¡¯t have to see any more pitches and didn¡¯t have to have any more balls cross the plate, that was fine with me. Great job by Riley getting it done.¡±
Echoed left fielder James Wood, ¡°It was a great throw, a great tag. It was a fun play to watch. It was a cool way to end the game, too.¡±