Wood knocked a base hit to lead off the third inning, then delivered a three-run blast off Chase Dollander in the fourth. He later drove in a fourth run with a base hit in the seventh. The 22-year-old outfielder is up to seven homers while slashing .253/.356/.573 with 17 RBI and three steals across 87 plate appearances.

The ball simply sounds different off James Wood’s bat. He torched his first inning double 112.3 mph deep to left-center field and hammered his ninth inning homer 110.5 mph to practically the same spot in left-center, just with a bit more loft under it. That long ball provided a valuable insurance as the Nationals made a huge comeback off the Marlins’ bullpen. It’s remarkable Wood can generate the type of power he does without basically ever pulling the ball in the air, but it just goes to show how good he can – or possibly will – be once if he can ever do that with consistency. After a bit of a slow start, he’s now up to a 1.010 OPS after starting play Monday with a .641 OPS and looks every bit the burgeoning star that was promised.

Both homers were two-run shots off Justin Wrobleski. Wood’s other RBI came on a bases-loaded walk. He now has three homers in two days after going without one in his first nine games. That stretch resulted in him being dropped to fifth in the Nationals lineup for a couple of days. It should be a long time before he bats that low again.