Breaking down a news-filled day and night at Nationals Park
Brady House was optioned to Triple-A, Jacob Young and Joey Wiemer needed X-rays and the umpires needed a rulebook in the 12th inning
This turned into the newsiest day of the season. Some of it took place on the field. Some of it took place off the field, before and after the Nationals’ bizarre 16-7, 12-inning loss to the Mets.
Let’s run through the most important developments of the day and night …
HOUSE OPTIONED TO TRIPLE-A
Maybe the biggest news of all came at the very end of the night: The Nats announced they had optioned third baseman Brady House to Triple-A Rochester.
This may or may not be the corresponding move for Dylan Crews, who is expected to travel to Washington on Tuesday and officially be recalled to make his long-awaited 2026 MLB debut after spending the last seven weeks in the minors. It’s possible the Nationals have some other moves up their sleeves, which may depend on the statuses of outfielders Jacob Young and Joey Wiemer (more on that in a moment). And it’s possible Crews won’t be the only player called up to join the team in the coming days.
The House demotion, unexpected as it felt in the moment, maybe shouldn’t be that big a surprise. Though he opened his season with an impressive few weeks in which he showed off a much more patient approach at the plate, he had cooled off considerably since and ended the night with a .227/.282/.399 slash line. He did hit seven homers in 44 games, but he also struck out 50 times while drawing only 13 walks. He was strangely having a much harder time hitting fastballs than breaking balls or offspeed pitches.
