Andres Chaparro Hit a 467-Foot Homer. He Also Drove in 8 Runs. The Nationals Won 23-4.

The Washington Nationals just put up more runs in nine innings than some teams score in a week. They beat the Oakland Athletics 23-4 on Friday night, and it wasn’t even that close for most of the game.

Andres Chaparro had the kind of night you remember. The 25-year-old infielder went 4-for-5 with two home runs and eight RBIs. That tied for the most RBIs by a Nationals player since 2018, trailing only Anthony Rendon and Mark Reynolds who each had 10-RBI games. Entering Friday, Chaparro was hitting .167 with seven RBIs total. He nearly doubled that in one evening. His OPS jumped from .585 to .776.

“After the All-Star break, everybody wanted to come back and show that we’re here to compete,” Chaparro said through interpreter Mauricio Ortiz.

The long ball and the big numbers

Chaparro’s first homer came off left-hander Jose Suarez in the fifth inning. Statcast measured it at 467 feet, making it the fourth-longest home run by a Nationals player since 2015. For context, that’s basically a no-doubter anywhere. He added a three-run shot off Yunior Tur in the seventh, plus RBI singles in the third and sixth. The guy was just locked in.

But it wasn’t just Chaparro. The whole lineup showed up. Washington collected 21 hits, a season high, and went 13-for-17 with runners in scoring position. That’s absurd. They hit four homers total and matched the second-highest run total in franchise history, trailing only a 25-run outburst against the Mets in 2018.

Curtis Mead also had a massive game: 4-for-6 with four runs, three RBIs and three doubles. Daylen Lile hit a three-run homer in the ninth. Harry Ford hit his first major league home run. James Wood drove in two with a single. Dylan Crews added an RBI double. Every Nationals starter had at least one hit.

Pitching was fine too

Cade Cavalli picked up his sixth win after allowing two runs over six innings with nine strikeouts and zero walks. Riley Cornelio threw two scoreless innings, and Jorbit Vivas closed it out. When you score 23, your starter just needs to keep the game somewhat manageable. Cavalli did that and more.

For Oakland, things went sideways early and never recovered. Rookie Gage Jump allowed four runs in 3 2/3 innings. Then five relievers combined to surrender 19 runs over the final 5 1/3 innings. Yunior Tur, making his major league debut, was charged with six of those. The Athletics have now lost 10 straight games and 14 of their last 15. Rookie Tommy White doubled in his big league debut, and Tyler Soderstrom and Shea Langeliers hit solo homers, but that was about it.

The series continues Saturday with Zack Littell starting for Washington against Oakland’s JT Ginn. Given how this one went, the Nationals might be feeling pretty good about themselves.