ST. LOUIS — Powered by home runs from Nathaniel Lowe, Amed Rosario and James Wood and a dominating start by MacKenzie Gore, the Nationals earned Miguel Cairo his first win as the club’s interim manager on Wednesday at Busch Stadium.
The Nats topped the Cardinals, 8-2, in Cairo’s second game in the role.
“It means a lot to him,” said Rosario. “Miguel is a tremendous person, and I think he is going to do an excellent job.”
Cairo was named interim manager on Monday following the firing of manager Dave Martinez, his close friend who he consulted with before accepting the role. Cairo had been the Nationals bench coach since 2024.
“It was good. It was good for my friend Davey,” Cairo said. “This one, it was for him because he’s the one that put this team together and believed in these players and put the coaching staff together.”
The Nationals have struggled to provide Gore with consistent run support this season, but it came early and often on Wednesday as they snapped a four-game losing streak.
Gore delivered six innings of one-run baseball in his final start before appearing in his first All-Star Game. The southpaw recorded seven strikeouts to five hits and one walk issued. Gore located 55 of his 89 pitches for strikes working with catcher Riley Adams.
“It’s always nice to have a lead,” said Gore, who is 4-8 with a 3.02 ERA and 138 strikeouts in 19 outings. “But as a pitcher, you still want to pitch what your plan was going in, which is you try to stay at a 0-0 game. But I think for the group, it’s always nice to take the lead early and don’t have to come from behind.”
The Nationals got an early advantage thanks to a Nathaniel Lowe three-run homer in the first inning. Lowe crushed a knuckle curve from right-hander Andre Pallante 360 feet into right field, per Statcast. He tied James Wood for a team-best 17 multi-RBI games this season.
The right-handed-hitting Rosario, who has seen most of his playing time against lefties, got the start at second base against Pallante. He grew the Nats’ lead to 7-1 with a solo home run in the fifth inning.
Rosario crushed a four-seamer from Pallante 434 feet to left-center field at 107 mph. It was his furthest-hit homer of the season and the third-farthest hit at Busch Stadium this season.
“It was huge,” said Cairo. “He’s been doing a really good job, and I’ve got to use everyone. I want to make sure everyone’s getting at-bats and keeping themselves fresh. It’s going to be a team effort. Right now, it was nice to see them swing the bat and barrel some balls.”
Barreling the ball might be an understatement to describe the damage Wood did in the seventh inning. The first-time All-Star James Wood got in Home Run Derby practice when he pummeled a sinker from lefty John King 433 feet to center field at 115.9 mph with a 23-degree launch angle.
“I didn’t see [the exit velocity]; I just saw the missile that left home plate and went to the fence,” said Cairo.
Wood now owns two of the Nationals’ three hardest-hit homers in the Statcast Era (since 2015). Wednesday’s home run is behind only the 116.3 mph homers hit by Wood (April 23, 2025) and Bryce Harper (June 15, 2017).
“It’s impressive,” said Lowe. “Any time he gets the barrel on the ball, you expect it to come out hot. It’s a special power stroke that he has. 115 [mph] is like right in his happy spot.”
As he had success with on Wednesday, Cairo plans to tap into the talents of the starters and bench players as interim manager. He noted the players are “hungry to work,” and he expressed his confidence in their professionalism and preparation to stay ready.
“They came in today swinging,” Cairo said. “… Everyone contributed. It was a big win.”
