Electric. Filthy. Dealing. Announcing his presence with authority. These are all ways to describe Cade Cavalli’s game against the Cubs on Thursday. Cavalli had a no-hitter going into the 6th inning and ended up with an eight-inning one-hitter. The Nationals won 7-0 against the second-highest scoring team in the majors (the Nats are still the highest).
Cavalli was already the best pitcher on the Nationals but Thursday night showed just how good he can be when everything is working for him. The fancy stats say he’s about the 15th best pitcher in the majors. He relies on a 97 mph fastball, a sinker, slider, change-up, and a knuckle curve to keep the batters off balance.
Cavalli’s excellent season is particularly rewarding considering his three year battle with injuries from 2022-2024. He finally made it back to the Nationals last summer. On Thursday he showed why he was their 2022 first-round pick and why he should be a rotation anchor for many more seasons.
Cavalli got plenty of run support including a three run homer from rookie first baseman Abimelec Ortiz who has four homers and a .963 OPS after his first 12 games. He’s starting to make people forget Luis Garcia who was traded to the Yankees for pitching help two weeks ago.
The other notable pitching performance this week was Wednesday’s major league debut by Jackson Kent, one of the Nationals’ top pitching prospects. The 23-year-old lefty gave up three runs in four innings on three hits, also against the second highest scoring team in the league. He walked five but he struck out six.
In the top of the fifth inning manager Blake Butera showed that he’s going to let the young players get challenged when he could replace them with a more experienced player in a big situation. With a 1-0 lead, Kent started the fifth by giving up a single and a walk. The next batter was MVP candidate Pete Crow-Armstrong.
Clearly, bringing in a reliever was a good option but Butera left Kent in the game. PCA doubled in a run, tying the score at 1-1. Jake Bird then relieved Kent and gave up a three run homer to Alex Bregman, adding two runs to Kent’s official total. It wasn’t a great outcome for Kent but he showed why he’s a top prospect. Hopefully he and Cavalli will hold down two rotation spots well into the future.
All photos coalminephotography.com
