Contreras Three-Run Blast Blows Game Open in First

Boston buried Washington in the first inning and never looked back, scoring four runs before the Nationals could blink. Willson Contreras was the hammer — a 421-foot shot to left center that swung Boston's win probability from 65% to 82% in a single swing.

James Wood gave Washington the early lead, crushing a 441-foot solo shot to right in the first inning. It lasted about as long as a summer rainstorm. Contreras answered immediately, sending a 421-foot three-run homer to left center — Ceddanne Rafaela and Wilyer Abreu both scoring ahead of him — to flip the scoreboard to 3-1 Boston. Caleb Durbin piled on in the same inning, going deep to left (338 feet) to make it 4-1. Three home runs, four runs, one inning. The game was functionally over before Miles Mikolas had thrown 20 pitches.

Mikolas stayed out there anyway, and that looks like the story of the night for Washington's pitching staff. He went a full seven innings but surrendered 9 hits and 6 earned runs — Boston kept adding in the second (Abreu's sacrifice fly scored Cheng, who was recalled from Triple-A Worcester after Marcelo Mayer landed on the IL with a left forearm injury) and the third (a Narváez sacrifice fly plated Seigler). By the time Mikolas walked off, the deficit was five. On the Boston side, Ranger Suarez worked six innings, allowing 3 earned runs on 5 hits with 8 strikeouts and just 1 walk — a quality start that gave the bullpen a clean runway. Tyron Guerrero and Garrett Whitlock each threw a scoreless inning, combining for 4 strikeouts on 2 hits.

Washington's only real threat came in the sixth, when CJ Abrams doubled to right, scoring Ruiz and Chaparro and pulling the Nationals to 6-3. It was too little, too late — the damage from that first inning was simply too deep to dig out of. Abrams finished 1-for-4 with 2 RBI, and Wood's 441-foot homer was genuinely impressive, but the Nationals' offense appears to have run out of answers once Boston's bullpen took over. Final: Boston 6, Washington 3.