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The Nationals are good at doing two things: scoring a lot of runs while also allowing a bunch of them at the same time. Both their league-leading averages increased as Washington posted a 9-6 victory over the Mets on Tuesday night.
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Things were very entertaining right from the beginning as the Mets jumped out to a 5-0 lead before the home team came to bat in the second inning. With two outs and the bases loaded James Wood does what he’s been doing so often lately by coming through with the biggest hit of the game in the form of an inside-the-park grand slam.
JAMES WOOD. LITTLE LEAGUE. GRAND SLAM. pic.twitter.com/UDooLAdTfy
– Washington Nationals (@Nationals) May 20, 2026
Wood’s opposite-field drive found Nicholas Morabito, who just so happened to be making his Major League debut. A leaping grab was perhaps made harder by the presence of Tyrone Taylor charging hard from center field and a potential collision. Once the ball bounded away, neither outfielder was very quick to find it, allowing Wood to scamper around all the bases for a homer he won’t forget.
Now, the Nationals social media has called this a Little League grand slam and they couldn’t post something that wasn’t true so it must be. As someone who coaches a lot of Little League, though, I feel like I need to inform the masses that if this is their idea of “sloppy” baseball they would be abjectly horrified by what’s happening out on 12U fields all over this country. Also, the biggest factor at play here that allowed it to be a grand slam is the fence, which caused all sorts of problems. Problems some youth leagues don’t have to deal with because they don’t even have fences.
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Those are all pesky details. What matters here is that Wood thrilled the crowd and the Nationals moved within a game of .500. Meanwhile the Mets fell six games below the breakeven point.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as James Wood Hits First Career Grand Slam On Little League-Style Inside-the-Park HR.
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This story was originally published May 20, 2026 at 5:27 AM.