Cincinnati Reds at Washington Nationals

WASHINGTON – There is something about facing the Cincinnati Reds that seems to bring out the best in Daylen Lile. The Louisville, Ky., native put on a show in front of friends and family at Great American Ball Park in May and again delivered against the Reds on Friday in the Nationals’ 5-3 series-opening win. Lile crushed a three-run home run in the bottom of the first to snap a personal 0-for-13 funk and give the Nationals an early 3-0 lead. Lile then hit a leadoff double to right in the bottom of the fourth and scored two batters later when Harry Ford launched a two-run blast to left-center. Lile is up to 15 homers on the year, while Ford went deep for the second time since being recalled after the All-Star break. The homers from Lile and Ford give the Nationals an MLB-best 170 home runs for the season. “Hopefully this jumpstarts Daylen a little bit and gives him some confidence,” said manager Blake Butera, “and allows him to play a little more free.” Lile ultimately went 2-for-4 in Friday’s series opener with a double, homer, two runs scored and three runs driven in. In four games against the Reds this season, Lile is now 7-for-17 with four homers, five runs scored and 10 RBIs. With James Wood on the 10-day IL and the Nationals having recently traded Luis García Jr. and Curtis Mead, the Majors’ highest-scoring team this season is suddenly looking for others to do heavy lifting. Lile, who burst onto the scene as a rookie last summer but has battled inconsistency this season, is among those the team could be leaning on. “Any chance where I can capitalize for the team, you try to take advantage,” Lile said. “But I feel like there’s a lot of players on this team who have a chance to step up and I feel like we have a lot of good players who are going to do that.” With Lile serving as the offensive catalyst, Cade Cavalli was able to overcome three solo homers to deliver a sixth consecutive quality start. Eugenio Suárez, Matt McLain and Elly De La Cruz took Cavalli deep in the opening three innings, but the Nationals workhorse relied on his curveball, had strong command for much of the outing and benefitted from strong defense behind him. With the Nationals up 5-3 in the fifth and the Reds threatening with two on and one out, Cavalli retired Sal Stewart on an inning-ending 5-4-3 double play. Third baseman Brady House snagged the grounder, threw to José Tena (making just his fourth start of the season at second base), who then bounced his throw to a stretched-o